Sarah vs Redemption and a Navy War Hero
by Charah
Summary: Sarah seeks to redeem earlier mistakes that took place six years ago. Chuck is battling through the horrors of war and protecting himself from further destruction at the hands of his old college lover as he and his team embark on a vendetta against a terrorist commander called Red Eye. This story is a complete role reversal for Chuck/Sarah to canon, it's as AU as you can get.
1. A Ghost of Sarah's Past

Disclaimer: I don't own Chuck, sadly... If I did own Chuck, then I would have made sure it lasted fifty series, with Charah having about six cute little kids and no dumb and ridiculous memory loss elements that still makes me want to vomit!

No betas were harmed in the making of this story. All mistakes are mine and mine alone. Sadly, I'm far from perfect so you can expect the occasional error but I'm extremely proud of what I do on fanfiction, because before this I had never written anything more than a few scraps of A4. In all future stories after this one, I'll be consulting the help of a beta on anything I decide to work on but I just didn't see the point in troubling one for help now after returning to the story after two years and making them painfully proof read through everything I've done already...

Warning: This story will push a strong T at times. It will contain cussing, detailed military fight scenes and eventually steamy love-making

* * *

 **Chapter One: A Ghost of Sarah's Past**

 **2006**

 **CIA Headquarters**

 **Langley**

 **Virginia**

 **USA**

It is business as usual inside the corridors of Langley, which is as busy as it has ever been before, though I guess you could expect as much, with the United States presently being involved in two major conflicts. Sarah Walker and Carina Miller, two of the Agencies most prized intelligence banks that the Middle East has to offer are also in town on this particular grand occasion. The number of informants these two agents alone control is said to account for more than forty percent of all actionable intelligence inside the Middle East...

And today, Sarah and Carina were heading along the corridors of Langley towards the main briefing room, which is about to become host to one of the most distinguished gatherings of top brass since the Pre and Immediate after invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan: if Carina is to be believed that is...

But from what Sarah had heard on the ground, Sarah could go along with that as the Insurgency was vastly spiraling out of control in Iraq. The amount of IED and suicide bombing attacks are increasing at a rapid pace to levels never seen before. And with the Taliban also putting up fierce resistance in Afghanistan, all of the top Intelligence Directors and Army Chiefs alike are becoming increasingly concerned that the conflict could spread to bordering regions and the U.S. could end up being dragged into multiple large scale wars.

"So yeah, Ron was telling me," Carina says as she began to attempt to ramble in gossip before pausing because her friend Sarah was just rolling her eyes at her. 'typical Carina' Sarah thought. Agent Carina Miller would sleep with anybody at any time just to gather intelligence. Carina always needed to know everything. Though Sarah had to admire Carina's dedication in all honesty, even if she would never admit that to her good friend.

"Do you want to hear what I know or not?" Carina continues with her voice now in a tone of complaint because of her friend's rudeness in the form of Sarah's facial expressions of disapproval.

Sarah puffs out a long deep sigh before checking her watch for the time. "You're going to tell me anyway so just hurry up and get on with it before we're late." Sarah and Carina had now entered the ladies restroom just as Sarah had finished speaking. Both of the ladies paused briefly to remove make-up out of their handbags before both glancing at the mirrors hanging on the wall before Carina continued on with her revelations. "So, what I hear is that a Joint Task Force is to be formed. Comprised mostly of U.S. SF but will also include some British and French involvement and will be operated out of the region, primarily in Iraq and Afghan, aimed at crippling both uprisings."

"Who's in charge?" Sarah interrupts her friend briefly, before deciding to not let her friend answer the question, and to guess herself, "Wait no, let me guess... Colonel Casey, right?" Obviously, of course it was going to be Casey. He was loved by DOD personnel so in a Joint Task Force he was inevitably going to be in charge.

"Yeah, and one of DEVGRU's Commanders, someone called Bartowski. Not a great deal is known of him, only that he's recently been awarded the Navy Cross and is said to have a personal bounty of $1 Million USD on his head in Iraq alone."

Carina was so impressed by this mystery Commander, she'd recently even had fantasies about him actually, which is kind of bizarre, because she doesn't even know what he looks like. There are probably only about a dozen people in total throughout the entire world that have access to the Commander's military file, and the same could equally be applied to any serving member inside DEVGRU due to its extremely sensitive modus operandi as America's most secretive and elite unit that they have to offer.

Sarah froze everything that she was doing immediately on hearing that name. The only name that could cause her to feel empty inside with nothing other than hurt, pain, misery and suffering. The name Bartowski terrorizes Sarah more than anything, even to this day, six years on from the worst day in her life.

Sarah tries to shake clear her thoughts of all that pain, especially because her friend had stopped talking and was presently surveying the face of Sarah, which had turned to shock.

"Sarah, are you okay, you look like you've seen a ghost?" Carina asks as she began to get concerned because her friend's face was getting paler and paler.

"Not a ghost, just the name..." Sarah replies to her friend as she now tried to shake off all those dark thoughts.

Not satisfied with the answer, Carina pressed on. "Do you think it's Chuck?" Carina asks half concerned for her friend, half unable to help her gossiping curiosity.

Sarah snaps out of her deep thoughts on hearing his name. "Don't you dare speak his name!" Sarah snaps while now glaring at her friend like she was an enemy instead right now.

Carina sighs audibly while feeling unsure what to do, unsure whether to drop it because of the evil eyes she was getting from her friend but she's never been one for the easy approach. "Sarah, come on… You still cry yourself to sleep and spend large parts of your life in a drunken mess. AND you still dream of him, I've heard you!"

Carina pauses from her attack momentarily, but now in a heartfelt and sincere tone, she asks, "Why don't you try to find him, Sarah?"

"I don't deserve him." Sarah replies with an unhealthy amount of self hate attached to her words.

Carina strokes the arm of her friend gently. "Sarah, everybody deserves a second chance." Carina replies sympathetically.

Sarah instantly began to violently shake her head sideways in disagreement with that statement. "No, not me... I FUCKING CRUSHED HIM CARINA. Please, just drop it!" Sarah retorts in a frustrated tone of voice.

"But you wont get anybody else either. If not him, then why not anybody else? You need to try to be happy and at peace with whom you are. You're extremely attractive- no, deadly. Men would kill for you. You could have anybody you ever wanted I've tried to get you with guys." Carina replies to her friend while also looking around to make sure nobody else was around and eavesdropping on the two friends.

"Well, I'm not interested in men any more." Sarah replies flatly with no emotion in the words whatsoever, she absolutely meant everything she had just said.

"You're not interested in women either! And don't I know it..." Carina quickly replies with a tad feeling of bitterness to her words before opening the door for her friend as they exited the bathroom to continue on with the final few footsteps of their journey.

"Carina, you're the only person I've ever been with except him and it's staying that way. Nobody else will ever touch me. I belonged to one man." Sarah whispers to her friend making sure that nobody heard her. 'typical Carina' Sarah thought, airing all of their dirty laundry in the capital spy building of the world.

"Sarah… If only you could hear yourself speak, you need to get him back." Carina retorts also in a whisper as she held open another door and they were finally now standing inside the main briefing room where a pretty large crowd of people had already gathered.

Sensing that they had no further time for conversation, Sarah closes off the conversation with her final few words in the most extremely faint voice as she could possibly muster "He's probably married now, has kids... I need to forget about him." Sarah replies as her head then began to glance around the room, before she stopped dead in her tracks...

"Chuck…" was all Sarah could breathe out. As her face met with the man she last seen six years ago...

BOOM! Cliffhanger!

The Walking Dead, your cliffhangers ain't got nothing on me!

Find out how Chuck reacts soon :) And more!


	2. Chuck's Living Nightmare

**Chapter Two**

 **Chuck's Living Nightmare**

 **CIA Headquarters**

 **Langley**

 **Virginia**

 **United States**

 **Friday, August 11th** **2006**

Lieutenant Commander Bartowski, or Chuck Norris, as his troop members often refer to him as, and most of the guys from the other troops as well in all honesty. Or just Chuck, as his friends call him, though he is generally just known as Chuck to pretty much anybody and everybody when he's not going about official duties, is the present Commander of Gold Squadron which he is currently filling in for an indefinite period of time. Gold Squadron represent an extremely secretive Special Forces unit that forms part of DEVGRU- Which totals four entire assault squadron's with sixty personnel in each squadron, which then divides further into three troops, which contains two to four individual squads in each troop. The three sister Squadrons that partner Gold are Blue, Silver and Red Squadron, while also having Black, Gray and Green Squadrons in reserve for transportation and logistics. Aside from Chuck's present responsibilities which entails being in complete command of Gold Squadron, his secondary responsibilities and his role that he held prior to his current status, is being in command of one of the troops of Gold Squadron. The other two troops in Gold Squadron are commanded by Lieutenant Commander Cooper and Lieutenant Commander Williams. And rumour is presently circulating the teams at the moment that Chuck could be given permanent command of Gold Squadron, due to operational successes during their most recent tour of duty in addition to the Navy's lack of options in finding a suitable commander with enough expertise to replace the temporary Commander of the unit, which would absolutely lead to Chuck's job becoming a desk-only job, which he absolutely did not want...

Today, Chuck was presently sitting inside of his personal vehicle, a BMW 2 series Coupe while waiting for the rain to subside enough for him to make a dart to the main entrance to CIA headquarters. Chuck was dressed in his service dress blues uniform, accompanied with his white cap and he didn't desire it to get soaked through. Chuck hadn't brought neither his bridge coat nor his all-weather coat with him because this rain shower was completely unexpected and had appeared out of nowhere because the young Lieutenant Commander had viewed the weather forecast at 06:00 hours this morning. Even if Chuck had brought a raincoat with him, he would have been soaked right through by the time he withdrew it from the trunk anyway, as that's how bad the rain shower presently was. And as the rain continued to bounce off the windscreen, Chuck's mind began to drift off into deep thoughts...

Chuck's BMW 2 series Coupe was his pride and joy. Aside from his Coupe, Chuck also owns a Dodge Challenger, but that car is in Los Angeles, and he has barely visited his home city much at all in recent years. Chuck's main base when not on operational duty is situated in Virginia and he hoped his other car was still okay, it should be however, as Captain Awesome was looking after it for him. Chuck doesn't gain much enjoyment out of life these days; chores, personal fitness, gun range, his car and team gatherings at family events such as barbecue's with the wives, children and the men of his crack unit- Chuck gets on with all of them. As the team leader, it's Chuck's job to create a togetherness and a camaraderie between his guys that extends significantly beyond the reaches of the hell that they are forced to confront in a war torn country. All of the wives and the kids of the unit love Chuck. Chuck is a very caring guy and makes sure that everybody around him is happy. But that's pretty much the entirety of what Chuck does when he's not deployed. And you know what? He's okay with that. It's not just Chuck that is happy with a normal life either. Ask anybody on the teams and they would tell you the same thing. It's their way of dealing with the difficult challenges that come with being the U.S.'s most trusted operational unit. They see more front-line action in a month than most army units see throughout the entirety of an entire war. They have an incredible resilience built up inside themselves to protect themselves and most importantly, to protect their brothers in arms from everything they are forced to see, and do, just to survive. For Chuck though, the hardest part to it all is when he comes home. Chuck has that mental resilience necessary when he's deployed overseas but as soon as he gets back on home soil he just can't seem to stay in the mindset that is needed when on operational duties. What makes it harder for Chuck is that he has no family of his own, Chuck can't just switch off like most of his buddies, no wife, no children, nothing to devote himself to once he comes home. Chuck is just left to mull over and replay every single bullet fired, every drop of blood spilt around him - the blood of his friends, the blood of the enemy and even sometimes the blood of himself. Chuck has been injured multiple times in battle- shrapnel wounds, stray bullets piercing through him, hell even in one particular Iraqi suburb a stray dog attacked him. Chuck recalls to himself with a brief smirk one of his team members Chief Special Warfare Operator Rodriguez raising his suppressed carbine rifle to put the dog out of action but Chuck knocked his man out of the way and used his hands to render the dog temporarily unconscious instead. Chuck didn't want to kill the dog, it was just an animal for Pete's sake. The dog was simply defending its property. Chuck really loved animals, he wanted some of his own but the truth be told who would there be to look after it while he was away? And he was away A LOT...

Chuck doesn't even see his parents much. Chuck's father is an Admiral in the U.S. Navy. Yes, Chuck followed in his father's footsteps... Chuck's father was also a former SEAL team leader and while initially showing disapproval, his father eventually took to the idea of his only son in the Navy. Chuck's mother and his sister, Ellie, who is a doctor and her husband Captain Awesome as Chuck likes to call him are situated in Burbank. Chuck's family didn't support his decision to join the Navy, especially not at the expense of dropping out of college with so few points remaining until graduation... But to Chuck, it was the only option for him. Surely they could see Chuck's reasoning to joining the Navy, as he had no desire to finish college so it was either this or a job in the Buy More... On Chuck's graduation from Officer Candidate School and subsequent BUD/S training and receiving his Trident however, even Ellie and his mother had an enormous sense of pride over his achievements, they acknowledged that he could have easily have given up, after what had happened to him with Sarah...

From time to time Chuck still thinks about his life changing decision, and he still believes that the decision he made all those years ago was the only decision he could have made. Chuck had to devote himself to something, to put all of his energy into it, it was the only way to get over her, to not think of her. 'How can the actions of one sole person have such devastating consequences to the life of a whole family. How is that fair?' Chuck had asked that particular question so many times over the years, and still hasn't obtained an answer to this day...

Since Chuck took the decision to sign up at that recruiting office six years ago, he had never fully been content with his family, excluding his father. Though Chuck did attend his sisters wedding, in full dress uniform. Ellie said that Chuck looked as handsome as she had ever seen him, though she didn't favour his short hairstyle all that much, and his mother Mary was also in complete agreement with her daughter. Chuck had even brought along his two best friends Morgan and Bryce to the wedding. Chuck's family had already met the pair before, as all three of them graduated BUD/S and Officer Candidate School together. Bizarrely, all three of them had lived in Burbank their entire lives and had never once met each other prior to enlisting. They were also known and recognized by their other teammates as the good, the bad & the ugly, the three amigos, the dumb, dumb and dumber and the three musketeers to name but a few. Yes, Bryce, Chuck and Morgan between them all took some serious stick because of their close connection to one another. And what's even more bizarre is that all three of them enlisted into the Navy because of a girl. The trio of friends had tried explaining this story countless times at one of the many bars they were at and unsurprisingly, nobody had believed them thus far- but it's completely true. Bryce Larkin enlisted into the Navy to impress his girl. However, with Chuck and Morgan, their reasons for enlisting into the Navy are significantly darker. Though that's mostly just applied to Chuck's reasoning, as he had known Sarah for four years prior to her abandoning him- Whereas Morgan had only been dating Anna Wu for a year, before she decided to move to Hawaii to be with a Benihana chef. In all honesty, Morgan loves life right now more than he ever did. Since joining the teams, Morgan hasn't had any problems getting women. In fact, a lot of women tend to throw themselves at Morgan when he's stateside and at bars these days. Morgan has tried so desperately throughout the years to try and get Chuck to move on from Sarah. Chuck's family aside, Morgan and Bryce are the only two people that truly know just how bad Sarah crushed Chuck when she left him all those years ago and they both tried to help him move on, but he never really has. Chuck just built up a thousand walls between himself and the darkest day in his life. But Morgan doesn't intend to stop trying to help Chuck, because he loves him, he is his best friend and he's like a brother to him- no, they are brothers, and he wants him to be at peace...

Sadly however Chuck, Morgan, Ellie, Mary and others were forced to reconnect once more recently, as they attended the funeral of Chuck and Morgan's dear friend Bryce, who was tragically killed, along with two other guys on their team while on operations in Iraq. Ellie and Mary also attended the funerals of the two other men under Chuck's command, to offer support for their family member, who they cherish dearly. The loss took a substantial toll out on Morgan and Chuck, but more so for Chuck. At the time of the incident, Morgan along with several other guys out of various troops of Gold Squadron was redeployed to another area acting as a rapid reaction force to reinforce an active operation at the time of the incident. And as the Commander of the unit, Chuck always feels like the deaths of men under his command is somehow his fault, whether that be through poor intelligence or poor decision making, or any other reason that he can think of to pin the blame on himself...

Chuck has reconnected with his family a lot more however, in recent weeks, as he hadn't really experienced deaths of his friends throughout his entire Naval Career thus far. In total, Chuck had lost three men under his command and one later unfortunately died of his wounds in hospital, but then that number had practically doubled, in the space of just one day, and it terrified him. Chuck couldn't help but wonder, is he next, is it his time? Some would say Chuck was lucky to have avoided that for so long, given how many missions his unit is given on a constant basis, but Chuck doesn't feel lucky right now, not in the slightest bit...

But yes, Chuck loved the road, it was the only place he was truly at peace, he hates nothing more than to be in his quarters at base, or his own personal apartment on his own where he is forced to sit and let the demons circle and surround him and smother him of air. Chuck refuses to let the torment take over his life. No, on the road, Chuck is at peace with whom he is, with what he has done, and what he will continue to do for the foreseeable future.

Deep in thoughts still in the car park at the CIA headquarters in what seems to have been an hour but in actual fact only a few mere minutes Chuck looks at his hands- the hands that have done and seen so much. Chuck can picture things. Chuck sees blood stains, grenade pins, his combat knife, a small red box all in the palm of his hands... If Chuck had looked at his hands six years ago he would have seen only a few things, a book or a video game controller maybe. In all honesty, Chuck barely knows who he is anymore.

But the reason that Chuck is here today, waiting inside his car in a car park that must surely currently contain hundreds of automobiles while waiting for the rain to subside enough for him to make a dash for the entrance is that earlier in the week while back at his base, his Commanding Officer and father had ordered him to report to Langley on Friday, 11th August at 10:00 hours for an upcoming operational announcement. Chuck's executive officer, Lieutenant Grimes, who is second in command of Chuck's troop, or 'the Dragon' as he is known by his teammates (don't ask why) or Morgan, as he is known to pretty much everybody except one sole person: John Casey, was also ordered to report for the briefing.

Chuck had been home stateside for just shy of five weeks now, after a physically demanding four month tour that had expended all of Chuck's energy reserves with his unit in Iraq. It was certainly the most challenging tour that Chuck had undergone yet. Coupled with the loss of several of his friends, Chuck also faced fierce combat with Insurgent forces that primarily took place in a city called Ramadi and he had been engaged in constant mortar fire, anti-personnel mine booby traps, even snipers. One particular sniper had killed four Marines before Chuck was utilized to dispatch of him as Chuck was the team's primary Marksman you see. The whole country though was in tatters. Sectarian violence throughout the whole region, car bombings, IED's, suicide vests. There had even been minor reports in the city of U.S. troops becoming increasingly panicky and some reports circulating through the bases in the country of incidents of soldiers firing on unknown at the time civilians because of sudden hand movements. If Chuck hadn't seen it with a first hand account he would refuse to believe the human race was capable of committing such atrocities, on both sides of the war, not just the insurgents, hell and even he himself. Chuck would never have believed he could end a man's life with his own hands. And sadly, it was not just one either as sometime during his last tour, Chuck is said to have racked up more than one hundred confirmed kills, according to Morgan and the rest of the team anyway. Chuck didn't exactly keep count of how many people he had killed, the thought of that actually makes Chuck feel dead inside. However, the grim reality was that as the primary Marksman, it was inevitable that Chuck was going to see most of the action, and even if he wasn't a Marksman, the number would still be high. Because Chuck recognized the reality of it all, it was them or him. Most of the action the SEALs had seen thus far had been overwatch protection, intelligence gathering and observation for Marine and other Infantry divisions on the ground, though there had been close quarters combat as the teams hunted High Value Targets. Chuck was known as a guardian angel to the Infantry divisions on the ground, he was the local lore of the city as an unknown marksman and he absolutely scared the living crap out of enemy insurgents in that city throughout that four month period that is for sure, with one particular terrorist cell even going as far as to have placed a $1 Million USD bounty on his head. Good luck with that Chuck had thought, as it's pretty impossible to kill somebody who you don't know. Not even regional U.S. Army commanders knew who Chuck was, well, only a handful of them, if it was absolutely need to know.

Chuck's unit idolized him, to them; he was their hero. They would run through hell and back for Chuck, but that is no more than he would himself do in return ten-fold for every single guy in his unit. Which is how he got his most recent ribbon that he is presently touching, the Navy Cross. This was an incredibly difficult subject for Chuck, and he visibly sighs and looks at himself dejected in the over view mirror when he begins to even remotely think about how he came to being awarded the Navy Cross. Chuck definitely didn't join the Navy to receive all the medals and ribbons he presently has sown onto his service/full dress uniforms, the number, for the record, is increasingly growing and has surpassed ten. If Chuck is even being honest with himself, he doesn't want the stupid medals. Chuck absolutely did not do any of his exploits in combat to receive a medal, he does it out of an undying love held toward his brothers, and to help others, in the only way he knows how, by laying his own life on the line to get the job done. Chuck believes that the public and the politicians back home should be more concerned with honoring the dead heroes, rather than the ones who are alive. Is laying your life for your country not a bigger sacrifice than an act of bravery that most of the guys would do without hesitation just like Chuck, he certainly thinks it is, but he will wear this ribbon, and its accompanying medal, and all the other medals he's received with as much honour and respect of the uniform as he ever has, because that is all he knows.

The rain had now subsided enough and Chuck put his thoughts to one side and wiped away the lone tear from his eye that had appeared when he began to think of how he was awarded the Navy Cross and exited his vehicle before proceeding to head to entrance of the building, where his best friend and XO was waiting for him.

Chuck smiled as he come within talking distance of Lieutenant Grimes. "Morgan, you are a god send buddy. Did I ever tell you how many times you have saved my life? Because you really just have! I could absolutely use this coffee right now, this weather is atrocious, much worse than what it was like when we were at BUD/S together." Chuck said to his friend as he finished jokingly as they both now began to think back to how they first met.

"Woah, easy there buddy. That's a little bit of an exaggeration don't you think?" Morgan joked in reply to his best friend as he took a sip of his nice warm coffee that he had just picked up from the reception area before going back outside to greet his friend in the pouring rain. 'What other friend would do this?' Morgan said to himself, rather smugly. Morgan prides himself on being Chuck's best friend, it's a badge he wears with honour.

"Yeah, maybe you're right there buddy, I was a little bit OTT there."

Morgan sharply nods his head in agreement, BUD/S was Morgan's worst nightmare, he still has nightmares about that bell noise and it still haunts him to this day, all those people dropping out- one by one. Though Morgan doesn't have pity nor feel sorry for them, he had worked his damn ass off to get to where he is today, and not many people have the mental resolve to be able to do it and he's a better person for coming through it though by the end of the course he thought he had died and had come back to life in another body somewhere else. Chuck can relate entirely to how Morgan felt but you know what, Chuck genuinely enjoyed it, and never for one moment did Chuck consider throwing in the towel.

Chuck and Morgan continue to drink their coffee as the two comrades and best friends headed inside into the main reception area of the CIA, meeting a familiar face along the way...

"Yo, yo, yo! Colonel Casey my man! How's it going?" Morgan yelled across the entire hallway of the reception area, in what can only be described as an unintentional act of disrespect as Casey held a much greater rank than the junior officer and they were on-duty. The hallway itself was rather large, there were about two dozen people in the main area and around ten armed security guards and most of the people in the area, including the guards turned to look in the direction of where Morgan's outburst had just originated from. Chuck merely shook his head, Morgan will never change, and Chuck wouldn't want him to either, though he wasn't too happy with Morgan's disrespect of a superior officer in the middle of a public building.

Chuck and Morgan closed the gap to meet up with Colonel Casey who they had previous connections with. Chuck, Morgan and Casey had served together on Joint Operations in several locations in the Middle East numerous times and Chuck and Casey had a tremendous professional respect for each other and admired each other greatly. Morgan however - well Morgan just got on Casey's darn nerves.

Casey scowled as Morgan got near to him. "Grimes." He grunted out, before shaking his hand, rather reluctantly, still giving him the eyeball for the way he had just previously behaved.

Casey's face then turned to Chuck, and Casey's demeanor instantly changed into something of respect.

"John, how are ya?" Chuck asked while shaking the hand of one of the few men he greatly admired. Chuck had learned a great deal from working together with Casey.

Chuck then tapped Casey on the shoulder after finishing shaking his hand, Casey grunted at that particular action.

"Eager for a darn mission, I've been laid up in Fort Bragg for 2 darn months. I need to shoot somebody already. I think I'm going insane." Typical John Casey response, nothing new there, the two frogmen thought to themselves.

The two sailors and soldier then headed toward the metal detector machines and had to surrender their personal sidearms, all three of them rather reluctant to hand over their most prized possessions, with one of the security guards almost having to arm wrestle with Casey to convince him to surrender his firearm.

Once they had been cleared to pass the reception they received guest badges which they pin onto their service dresses, or in the case of Casey, his Army combat uniform. The security guards had then just asked them if they needed help finding the briefing room.

Chuck and Morgan began to laugh in a chuckle to themselves, before Morgan replied "We have found our way out of a lot worse hell holes than this place." Morgan jokes, which only furthered Chuck's laughter. None of the teams really like the CIA all that much. There is a genuine professional respect there, and that would never be put into question by any member of the military. Without the intelligence provided, guys like Chuck, Morgan and Casey wouldn't be in a job. But it's all cloak and dagger, and the teams don't like the tactics very much. And they absolutely don't like the torture methods, though if you asked Casey that one particular question, he might not be so certain. But in all, a military person likes to see the enemy coming at them, rather than be stabbed in the back.

Even Casey managed a grin at that one. Grimes is an idiot, but he can be a damn funny one sometimes Casey thought, before taking the lead in the joke for one of the first times, probably ever. "Amen to that." Casey replied as he nodded his head approvingly.

Sure enough, the three companions soon found their way into the main briefing room, without any help, and it was filling up fast. There was an oval shaped table in the middle of the briefing room that could house up to thirty, and Casey had told the two frogmen while they were finding their way here that it would be full- with on screens also (Army Chiefs and Intelligence staff appearing via video communication) and as expected, the room was plastered with monitors hanging from all angles.

Chuck and Morgan occupied their respective seats which was incidentally next to each other and their names had already been placed on the table so everybody knew where to sit and the briefing was due to start in five minutes. Chuck and Morgan engaged in some light conversation and shared a minor joke before they began to focus as huge files were being given out containing the same information to each and every person in the room. The joking had stopped now, as Chuck focused on what was in front of him.

'Oh boy, this was going to be big,' Chuck thought to himself and he had only power read through probably a sixth of the file when he glanced over toward Casey who just nodded his head. Both of the officers could both tell by each others face that this was what they were waiting for - this was it. After Chuck's gaze went away from Casey he couldn't help but notice out of the corner of his eye some movement and he instinctively paid attention to that particular area of the room and what he just seen, he had to double, no triple, no quadruple take on what he had just seen. "That's not possible." Chuck muttered in complete disbelief.

"Uh, what's not buddy?" Morgan replied, as turned to look in Chuck's direction thinking he had just asked him something. Chuck however was completely disorientated and didn't even hear that Morgan had said anything, right now Chuck didn't even know Morgan existed. Chuck was looking into the eyes of his worst nightmare, the woman who had butchered his heart into one thousand little pieces that have remained twisted ever since that day.

'It can't be her there is no way that is her. No, no, no...' Chuck kept saying over and over to himself inside his brain. 'There is no way that this is possible. This is some kind of sick joke.'

Chuck turned to glance at Morgan, still disorientated sure that it was some kind of sick prank from his best friend. But Morgan was completely focused on the intelligence file in front of him.

Chuck refused to meet the gaze once more of Sarah Walker. Chuck had begun to regain his composure and he knew it was Sarah now. Chuck looked anywhere in the room except at Sarah again. Chuck had a million questions racing through his mind, without a single answer in response to any of them.

Chuck's broken heart was racing ten to the dozen, a million beats per second. There was no way Chuck could have imagined this was ever possible, his former lover, a CIA agent? 'No, no, no, no.' Chuck looked up to the heavens, 'You win. I give you ten out of ten for this joke.'

'You sir, are one sick person.' Chuck said as he once more looked up to the heavens.

Chuck's brain began to start to fill with anger and rage, pure uncontrollable rage. There is only two other times in his life he had ever felt like this, the first; six years ago, which coincidentally involved the very same woman he had just looked at! 'This woman is the reason I'm here.' Chuck started to argue to himself. 'She's the reason I'm the monster that I am.' And the second time, when his best friend was killed in front of him...

'She's the reason I had to watch my best friend die…'

End of Chapter.

* * *

A/N Hopefully I have answered here what drove Chuck to joining up in the Navy. Chuck drew inspiration from his father, and he wanted to channel his energy into something positive, rather than completely break apart, like he would have done if it were not for the Navy. I guess people can react either way to a break up. Though I think it's rather clear to all that Chuck still hasn't fully gotten over those issues that arose all of those years ago, not by a long shot...

Until next time ladies and gents.


	3. She Who Must Not Be Named

_I feel like I should try to clarify something; Casey and Chuck are only team leaders. They don't plan the operation, they just execute it. Chuck and Casey are only in charge of the boots on the ground- not what they are tasked with doing. The senior Military and Intelligence Chiefs are the actual people in charge of the Task Force, and all of the planning comes through them, and what its overall objectives detail etc. And that's why Chuck and Casey are being briefed, as opposed to being the ones giving the briefing._

Chapter Three

She Who Must Not Be Named

 **Main Briefing Room**

 **CIA Headquarters**

 **Langley**

 **Virginia**

 **United States**

The briefing for the upcoming tasking in the Middle East was just about coming to a closure. If you were to ask Chuck how much of that two hour long briefing he had actually paid attention to, he would provide you with an honest answer of a figure roughly around the forty percent region. And in comparison, even Morgan was achieving levels of a high seventy percent mark, so this was significantly way of Chuck's usual very high standards that he set of himself. Chuck prided himself throughout his entire Naval Career thus far on having very high levels of tranquility, to be able to switch off from everything around him, and to simply listen and learn. But not today, and in defence of the young Lieutenant Commander, there was an enormous elephant in the room...

As for actual briefing itself, it was immensely diverse, it was divided into three main categories; Iraq, Afghanistan and the situation in neighboring states and the region as a whole.

The briefing on Iraq covered a broad spectrum; ranging from the freshly formed Iraqi government in early 2006, with initial reports indicating that it's not doing well at all and is massively not performing to the levels that had been originally expected prior to its forming...

Other topics covered were;

* Coalition troop death figures; once more, the figures were not good reading for military officials, who had predicted significantly less than what they are right now in the time frame that they had originally set out.

* Projected Coalition troop death figures by the time the conflict was over; once more, bad reading. Based on the most up to date information provided by independent surveyors of the conflict, the projected death total of Coalition troops by the end of the conflict was going to be considerably higher than the levels expected before the invasion of Iraq began. Though in part this is because of the sheer ferocity of the present ongoing Insurgency, and intelligence officials had made an almighty cock up somewhere down the line with that one.

'A particular pattern of trend is developing here.' Chuck recalled having said to himself at some point during the briefing. 'It's no surprise why the politicians in charge are desperately searching for alternative ideas.'

The rest of the topics covered in the Iraq briefing were as follows;

* Civilian death figures; again, much higher than anticipated. However, this was also in part due to the Insurgency.

* Projected civilian death figures; the number for this particular area was off the charts. A number far higher than what was acceptable.

* Projected expenditure; over one trillion USD expected.

* Projected time it will take to quash the Insurgency; five years, though this could rise significantly, if regional unrest continues at its current rate.

* Rapid rise in forming of terror cells; this was deemed an intelligence failure.

* Public War support back home; opinions in the polls are plummeting.

All in all, the briefing for Iraq spelled out only one thing; that they needed to end the conflict as fast as they possibly could, and to minimize the already considerable loss of life, or if not a fast end, they needed to give themselves a tremendous victory that they could give to the public, so they could justify to the American people their need to be there, and to turn the opinion polls back in their way. Not only that, American officials wanted to keep their status as the world's leading Superpower, and with Russia becoming increasingly powerful, The U.S. wanted to show its strength and resolve.

One of the senior intelligence chiefs joked during the ending that if only they could find bin Laden right now, and that was the type of victory the senior officials were hoping to achieve with the creation of this new 'Counter Insurgency' initiative. The idea behind it is to hand over increased control to the Iraqi Army, and to begin to think about withdrawing Infantry and Marine divisions. But to counter balance this, they propose to give increased duties to the Special Forces, who they believed are more adequately equipped to fight an Insurgency, as opposed to an all out war that the regular combat divisions are trained in fighting.

The briefing on Afghanistan was virtually identical to the Iraq one, record levels of violence, high levels of casualties, etc. Though one specific thing to come out of the country is that Opium export levels are still astronomically high.

Just like Iraq, the proposal was troop withdrawals ASAP, and to give increased duties to the Special Forces.

The files that Chuck had been handed when he first arrived at the briefing room contained the gist of pretty much everything mentioned, so what Chuck had missed, he would absolutely be mulling over again over the coming days.

It wasn't just the U.S. who were taking a hit though, as the British government also lacked opinion support in the polls, which is why they had also offered personnel to this task force including their highly prestigious and elite 22nd SAS unit. As it happens, they had also sent a representative at the request of the DOD, one Captain Cole Barker. Again, just like Colonel Casey, Chuck had prior experience of working with the Brit, and just like with Casey, they shared mutual professional respect.

To further support everything highlighted during the briefing, what Chuck and Sarah and even if you want to include Cole, Casey and Carina for argument sake were all hearing during the briefing was almost identical to what they were hearing from their informants, or in the case of the soldiers and sailors, seeing first hand.

And that was officially the end of the briefing, as military and intelligence Chiefs alike began to depart from their seats and began stretching their legs after being stationery for an extended period of time. Most people in the room took a few minutes to digest everything they had just heard, or to look over the files they had been handed, but Chuck had more pressing matters occupying his mind, he needed to get air, and he needed to think. Chuck couldn't breathe very well right now. Chuck got up to head for the exit, which normally would be quite a strange action from Chuck, because generally after briefing like that, he would take the time to digest it all together with his XO. But there was plenty of time for Chuck to do that before they deployed, he just needed to get as far away from here as he possibly could. Outside of the briefing room it was much cooler and Chuck had calmed down a little though it wasn't enough. Chuck needed to get to his car and take a ride somewhere, anywhere, so he could clear his thoughts. Chuck wasn't due to report to his CO until 17:00 hours and it was only just after 12:00 hours so he had plenty of time to do whatever he wanted.

Chuck was idling around outside the Briefing Room waiting for his XO Lieutenant Grimes, who he couldn't just take off from without saying a word to when Cole Barker left the briefing room. Cole instantly recognized Chuck and vice versa.

Cole covered the slight distance to his American counterpart, before greeting him in a husky Scottish accent. "Good afternoon, Commander." Cole says to Chuck, mid hand shake.

"Likewise Captain. How are you?" Chuck replied, not forgetting his manners, despite his present personal crisis in response to his British counterpart.

"Quite jet lagged, to be frank." Cole attempted a joke in response. Though rather surprisingly, Cole noticed that his American colleague seemed to be quite pissed off right now and a significant amount more so than he had previously seen him and they had met several times over the years. Chuck was usually one of the most approachable guys that Cole had, had the pleasure of working with while on active duty and even a combined joint training exercise they had undertaken together.

Just as Cole had finished his miniature joke to Chuck, to which Chuck didn't really feel like responding to as he wasn't in the best of moods to be joking right now, Colonel Casey had appeared from exiting the briefing room. Chuck, with his customary hospitality to his British counterpart, introduced the British Captain to the American Colonel, as neither of them had previously met, though Chuck didn't know that, but he treated it as such regardless.

"Captain Barker, I'd like you to meet a good friend of mine, Colonel Casey."

"Colonel, I don't think we've had the pleasure before?" Cole asks in response to Chuck's introduction, as he shakes the hand of the American Colonel.

"No, we haven't. It's nice to meet you Captain." Casey nods, as he greets his British counterpart.

"Well… As good as it was to catch up with you again Chuck, I'm afraid that I have a plane to catch, I'll be seeing you two fellas out there." Cole says, awaiting their response before swiftly departing.

The two American military officers nod in response to Cole's farewell before he swiftly departs.

Casey begins to chat excitedly with his Navy counterpart. "This is it Bartowski, enough with all of that reconnaissance nonsense, we're finally going to hit them, hit them where it hurts. They've been reinforcing their positions for eighteen months now and we've sat around like donkey's and done nothing but observe. But now it's our turn." Casey says with an enormous grin present on his face because he will now be able to shoot people.

"Oh yes, just fucking splendid, isn't it!" Chuck replied in a rather sarcastic tone, and certainly loud enough for people in the immediate vicinity of him to turn around and look distastefully at him.

"Woah, are you okay there Chuck? You don't seem your normal self?" Casey replies while raising his eyebrows at the change in personality from one of the only people he would consider to be a friend.

"Yeah, look…..." Chuck took a long moment to restore his composure before continuing, "I'm sorry John. I just have a lot going through my mind this morning, is all." Chuck replies sincerely, unwilling to elaborate further.

Before saying to himself 'Where the hell is Organ, I'm going to kill him if he doesn't get his ass out here right this instant.'

Casey can relate. 'It's probably that Grimes, he's probably done something to piss Chuck off.' Thinks the Colonel.

"Eh, we've all been there. What's that moron Grimes done to piss you off?"

Chuck immediately began to snicker, though he was unable to reply because he was interrupted by somebody else.

'What is this, a fucking pantomime?' Chuck says to himself as began to get increasingly impatient at people stopping him from leaving this place, the last thing that Chuck wants right now is she who must not be named coming out next.

"What was that, sir?" Morgan asked as he had finally exited the briefing room, though in rather close proximity with a red haired presumably CIA agent, as Chuck noticed her sitting next to she who must not be named.

Chuck was so happy right now. Morgan was here, and Chuck could finally get out of here, before he was forced to reconnect with she who must not be named.

"I said you're a moron. Moron." Casey snickered to himself at his own joke.

Or not...

"Thank you very much for the compliment, sir." Morgan replied to the Colonel while sporting a bright beam on his face. If you asked the Lieutenant the one thing he liked to do most in this world, he would tell you without hesitation that it would be to wind up the very same Colonel that was presently grunting in response to Morgan's latest attempt at getting under the Colonel's skin.

"How about this for a compliment: the last time I worked with you frogmen, I had to come save your asses because you pissed of the locals. It's going to be great when your sorry asses have to beg for me to come help you again. I'm looking forward to this mission already." Casey replies as he begins snickering. There is absolutely no way he is going to let that fool get one over on him.

"Nah," Morgan said confidently as he took a moment to pause and add suspense before continuing, "we just showed them a picture of you, you're enough to piss anybody off, isn't that right Chuck!?" Morgan said as he burst into uncontrollable laughter while fully expecting Chuck to join in the laughter with him, even going as far as to nudge his CO's shoulder to encourage him to laugh with him.

However, Chuck just physically snarled and sensing Chuck wasn't about to laugh anytime soon, Morgan stopped laughing. Actually by the look on Chuck's face, the complete opposite was about to happen. "Was it a bad joke?" Morgan asked.

Chuck hadn't even bothered to respond.

Sensing something wasn't quite right with Chuck at the moment, which was strange, as he was a completely different person prior to the briefing, and the Colonel was positive it wasn't anything about the briefing itself, because Chuck usually loved them and he was in his element during them, he decided to leave the two SEALs to be on their own.

"And on that note, I'll be on my way out of this darn hell hole. I've got better things to do than waste my time with a group of frogmen." Casey said with his parting note, trying to lighten up the mood a little bit before Chuck killed his XO.

Casey waited to receive an acknowledgement from the two SEALs, to which he gets a nod from Chuck and a wide grinning Morgan, who feels like he got the upper hand on the Colonel in this particular engagement, the Colonel departs.

Mentally worn out after this ridiculous charade, Chuck is elated that there is nobody else in the briefing room who could possibly stop him from leaving, other than she who must not be named and would you believe it, Chuck wasn't even surprised anymore, from the minute he saw her enter the briefing room he knew somebody up in the heavens had it in for him, because that's the same person who had just exited the room. 'And what the heck... She's coming straight toward me.'

Chuck was panicking inside, there was no way he could avoid Sarah now, he just had to hope and pray that she didn't recognize who he was anymore. 'Clearly she didn't even remotely think as much of me as I did of her. The way she left me that day, the way she treated me when she broke up with me was not the actions of somebody who was in love with you.' Chuck believed he had been shown more remorse by enemy combatants than Sarah Walker had shown him on the final day he ever saw her, until today...

'She's probably had one hundred boyfriends since the last day we saw each other. There is no way she is going to recognize me.' Chuck thought to himself.

It's like Chuck had frozen in time because Chuck and Sarah were only a few feet apart from each other, while Chuck's mind was racing, his brain was exploding.

It was still technically possible that Sarah wouldn't recognize Chuck because throughout the entire briefing after he had initially seen her and met her gaze just the one time from quite a distance, he had completely avoided all of her further gazes entirely. But what subterfuge can you deploy when she's standing just metres in front of you, looking right at you. 'Please don't recognize me, please don't remember me.' Chuck was begging to himself.

Chuck turns his gaze away from Sarah now, as she is almost within touching distance, he shifts his gaze anywhere, to Morgan, to the red headed female, down at the floor, oh crap that was a bad idea, because as his gaze hit the floor, he couldn't help but take in her figure that she had on show. Sarah was wearing a suit blouse and matching skirt with high heels and every single inch of her perfect body was on display.

'STOP IT CHUCK! STOP! THOSE! THOUGHTS! NOT AGAIN! NOT LIKE THIS!' He yelled to his brain working five hundred overtimes combined into one.

Suddenly, he heard somebody speaking, in a voice he hadn't heard for six whole years and it's exactly as he remembers it to be, the voice that brought him so much joy and happiness for so many years, only for it to bring complete sorrow and misery for eternity with just a few simple words.

"Chuck, how did you join the SEALs?" She asks, and he can't help but meet her gaze again, and what a mistake it was as those perfect, alluring blue orbs that he used to get lost in for hours on end, that long flowing perfect blonde hair... This is why he joined the Navy! To distract and distance himself from all these memories and thoughts, and in an instant, all those years of forgetting, destroyed, by something as simple as looking into the eyes of the person who completed his heart, only to crush and stamp on it a thousand times until there was nothing left.

And that question, oh boy that question, Chuck should be asking a question of his own, 'How are you so beau' he didn't allow himself to complete that adjective, because that would be it, his brain would turn to mash if he did.

'DON'T DO IT TO YOURSELF AGAIN!' an inner voice suddenly screams at him.

'SHE BROKE YOU ONCE CHUCK!' it continues to scream.

'DON'T SHOW HER YOU ARE WEAK!' continuing even further.

'YOU ARE A NAVY SEAL COMMANDER FOR GOD SAKE!' the voice continues to scream at him.

'USE YOUR TRAINING!' It screamed in a deafening roar causing Chuck's brain to pop

'BUT I CAN'T REMEMBER ANYTHING!' He screams back.

Chuck had to decide his response, as it had been seconds since Sarah had asked him that question and he was disorientated once more. Chuck couldn't let himself go back to how he felt all those years ago.

So Chuck closes off, he shuts down his emotions entirely, 'Oh this is much better,' he tells himself. As his brain continues to shift into the only mentality that he knows will be able to protect himself from falling into a dark hole again. Chuck shifts his mind as if he were deployed in combat and was presently dealing with somebody he didn't like very much. 'Yes, this is good,' he tells himself. This will protect him. This will keep him safe.

Chuck finally snaps out of the gaze of the hostile in front of him, and slips into full combat mode.

"Agent Walker, is it?" Chuck asks, before waiting for visual acknowledgement that she is actually a CIA Agent.

Sarah looks confused, now she's looking disorientated. 'It's working.' Chuck tells himself.

Sarah can only nod, in confirmation of the question.

"I'm afraid that information is highly classified and way, way, way above your pay grade."

Sarah did a double take. She was gob smacked, is she absolutely sure this is Chuck?

'Oh this is perfect.' Chuck continued to praise his resolve, that he was standing firm and dealing with this intruder.

Sarah looked Chuck up and down. 'Why is she doing that.' Chuck asked himself.

"Chuck, it's Sarah, don't you remember me?" Sarah asked with a large portion of emotion attached to her voice.

Chuck didn't pay attention to what Sarah had said, though. Instead, he paid attention to what her arm had just done. Sarah had moved to put her hand on Chuck's shoulder and his facial expression physically scowled before proceeding to reply.

"Agent Walker, if you don't remove your hand from me, I'll be forced to do it. And trust me, you don't want that."

Sensing the Lieutenant Commander wasn't playing around, Sarah removed her hand from the Seaman who had shifted his body into an aggressive position when she placed her hand on him.

And with that, Lieutenant Commander Bartowski retreated several steps before turning and walking away as quickly as he possibly could to find the reception and retrieve his personal sidearm before leaving this darn hellhole, leaving everybody who had just watched the commotion, and Sarah, physically shocked.

 **Acronyms Used in this Chapter: XO – Executive Officer**

 **DOD – Department of Defence**

 **fella- British slang for any human male.**

 **SAS – British Special Forces**

 **frogmen – a term used to describe navy divers, often used to describe Navy SEAL's**


	4. My Chuck

_Previously; Sensing that they had no further time for conversation, Sarah closed off the conversation with her final few words in the most extremely faint voice as she could possibly muster "He's probably married now, has kids, I need to forget about him." She replied, glancing around the room, before she stopped dead in her tracks._

 _"Chuck…." was all she could breathe out. As her face met with the man she last seen six years ago._

* * *

Chapter Four

My Chuck

 **Friday, August 11th 2006**

 **CIA Briefing Room**

 **Langley**

 **Virginia**

 **United States**

Sarah had to be helped to her seat at the briefing table by her friend Carina, after her friend had paused and was stood like a zombie with her eyes fixed onto one particular part of the room for about a minute. Following the gaze of her friend, Carina set her eyes on two Navy officers in their mid twenties, the reason she knew their age, was because she already knows one of them, Lieutenant Grimes, she had met him at a bar a few nights previously, the other must surely be Chuck. 'It must be him, it must be Chuck.' Carina said to herself.

Carina has never once seen her friend Sarah like this throughout the entire seven years that she had known her, way back to the CIA Academy. Only Chuck could do this to Sarah. Carina was absolutely sure of that. That being the case, and sensing that her friend Sarah was in a complete state of shock right now, and that she wasn't about to move any time soon, Carina took the lead and physically helped Sarah move to take her seat, which was luckily just in front of them, so they barely had to walk more than a few metres. Sarah just slumped into her seat and didn't even bother to tuck herself in, she just sat, and continued to stare in the direction of the person who has just turned her into a condition that can only be described as frozen human ice.

There was a million things racing though Sarah's mind right now, I guess the biggest and most important one of all is how the hell is Chuck sitting here, in the main briefing room of the CIA, dressed in Navy uniform, being briefed on an upcoming Special Forces Task Force. 'MY CHUCK IS A NAVY SEAL?' She kept repeating to herself over and over.

Sarah felt like she was having another panic attack inside right now, and she couldn't breathe very well. Sarah needed to find some immediate answers to what the hell was going on, her entire life has just been turned upside down with this immediate revelation.

Sarah's mind began forming a puzzle, on how Chuck could go from being a studier of Engineering at Stanford University to being a Navy Seal Commander, and everything that accompanied that job description. Her Chuck couldn't kill people, not her Chuck.

Sarah had first met Chuck while they were both attending a Stanford University tour, which offered them a chance to look around the University for the upcoming classes that were due to start the next year. Sarah and Chuck fell in love not long after their Stanford University tour, and the following four years were the best of Sarah's life.

Sarah continued to piece the puzzle pieces together in her mind. For Chuck to be that far advanced in rank, he must have surely served in the Navy for at least five years, and with all the training attached to being a Navy Seal, and initial Officers training, it would work out to a figure of around six years.

Sarah began to feel physically sick inside. Six years, that number, the number of years that have passed since the worst day in Sarah's life. Six years, the number of years that have passed since Sarah last set eyes on the man she loved far more than anything else in this world. Chuck was the only person Sarah had loved, he was her life.

Six years five months and twenty-eight days since the day Sarah was ordered to break up with Chuck. With nothing more than a 'Security concerns' answer given from the man who ordered her to break up with the love of her life, Director Langston Graham, CIA.

Sarah didn't want to do it. How could she simply just leave and walk out on the man she loved more than anything. 'But maybe it is for the best.' Sarah remembers thinking at the time. Sarah absolutely didn't want Chuck involved in the life she had been living for nearly a year. And Sarah couldn't live another day with all of the lies and deceit that she had to do to Chuck. And the red test, that horrible, horrible moment in Sarah's life, it had took place in January 2000 and she hadn't been able to look at Chuck the same way again in the immediate weeks that followed it.

Either way, Sarah was going to lose. If Sarah had come clean to Chuck that she had been spying for the CIA, who were monitoring people on her campus for nearly a year, and she had killed a man, would Chuck have honestly still loved her? He would have broken up with her that instant. So Sarah didn't see any other way she could have gone about it, she couldn't face Chuck being the one to break up with her, seeing that look of disgust on his face when she tells him she had killed somebody, no, Sarah couldn't handle the thought of that, she had to end it herself.

But now look at him... Here Chuck is right now, sitting in the same room as her, as a Special Forces Operative. 'How many people has he killed?' Sarah begins to wonder. "10, 20, 50, 100, more?' She asks herself, all the while becoming more and more shocked at the revelation. And then it hits her.. The reason Chuck is where he is right now, is Sarah's fault. Sarah caused this, all those people Chuck killed, everything he's done since becoming a Navy Seal, it's all her fault, and she hates herself for it. How could Sarah do that to her Chuck...

Sarah still can't take her eyes off of Chuck, he's changed so much... The curls Chuck had that she used to love, gone and replaced with a short hair though from what she could see, Sarah could easily grow to like that particular style much more than the curls, it suited him great. Sarah couldn't make out much more of Chuck's physical appearance, due to him being seated, but he was A LOT more tanned.

Since they shared eye contact around ten minutes ago, Chuck hadn't looked back Sarah's way since. 'Maybe he doesn't recognize me anymore.' Sarah wonders. Based on Chuck's physical appearance, he probably has women throwing themselves at him, and it's been so many years, and all the things he's probably seen and done. 'Yes, he definitely doesn't remember me.' Sarah began to convince herself.

Sarah's brain suddenly hits a revelation: she remembers a conversation they shared, when she had asked Chuck if he ever had thoughts about joining the Navy like his father. "No way, he's never home. You know what, I actually hate the Navy. And how could I just leave you, I love you. You're all that matters to me Sarah, nothing else. I don't want anything or anyone else."

"You're so sweet Chuck, and I love you too." Sarah remembers saying, as her heartstrings begin to pull and feel things she hasn't felt in six years, unable to stop the the tears glossing her eyes, she doesn't even attempt to.

Carina glances at her friend, and spots her glossy eyes and Carina's heart melts. Carina can't imagine what her friend is having to go through right now, but there's nothing she can do, they're in the middle of a Military briefing...

x-x-x-x-x-x-x

The briefing had now ended, and for Sarah, those two hours were the longest two hours of her life. Sarah didn't care what was said during the entirety of the briefing, she's done enough for the CIA... 'Who cares about a stupid briefing.' Her mind had said to itself at some point during the two hour briefing. Though there was one particular moment of interest to Sarah of that briefing she had paid attention to, and it was when Admiral Bartowski was introduced by General Sanders, who was heading up the briefing, and on hearing his name, Sarah snapped out of her deep thoughts that she was presently having the about the Admiral's son and paid attention to the main monitor. In return, which was actually quite surprising to Sarah, the Admiral seemed to glance over in the direction of Sarah rather briefly, as it was a two way broadcast and everybody appearing via video uplink could see everybody inside the briefing room.

Sarah needed to speak to Chuck. Sarah needed to know why Chuck joined the Navy, this was never supposed to happen.

"Sarah, are you okay?" Carina suddenly asked.

Sarah jumped out of her skin. To be honest, Sarah had forgot that Carina was even here.

"I'm fine, please leave me alone." Sarah retorts, unable to take her eyes off Chuck who had got up and was heading for one of the several exit doors to the briefing room.

"Okay, I'm here if you need me." Carina replies, sincerely rubbing the arm of her friend. Before she gets up from her seat, and heads in the direction of Lieutenant Grimes, who had been giving her the occasional wink throughout the entirety of the briefing.

'Now is your chance Sarah. It's now or never, you might never see him again. You need to know.' Sarah tells herself as begins to regain her composure and begins to psych herself up into talking to her former lover.

It had been two or three minutes and Sarah could see that Chuck was outside, thanks to a window view and sensing that he was about to leave. Sarah took a leap of faith and began to head in Chuck's direction, becoming increasingly nervous each step she took toward his direction.

Sarah had opened the door and was now metres away from Chuck. Carina was chatting away with some Navy officer, probably a friend of Chuck's and Chuck was on his own, sensing now would be a good time to try and talk with him, Sarah began to step closer to him, while at the same time, she was taking in his appearance. He was now gazing at her, with those same perfect hazel eyes, oh how she has missed those eyes.

Inching closer to her former lover, Sarah could now also fully take in Chuck's appearance, he was so much more masculine, with muscle growth in every single part of his body. As Sarah got closer, she noticed some broken facial bones, adding to the masculine look of Chuck, and his uniform, oh how it suited him, the last time Sarah was having thoughts like these, was to the exact same man more than six years ago.

Sarah had now stopped walking and was in touching distance of Chuck and he had only took his gaze away from her for a brief second before she noticed how he then shifted his gaze to look her up and down 'This must be good, he surely remembers me.' Sarah thought positively, before taking a leap of faith and trying to talk to him. Though she can't think of anything to say, how can you start a conversation with somebody who you last seen six years ago and broke up with only to find him in the last place you expected to see him.

'I should probably start with the elephant in the room.' She says to herself.

"Chuck, how did you join the SEAL's" She asked him.

Chuck's gaze had now shifted from what can only be described as admiring her body to meet her eyes again, and once more Sarah gets lost, looking into his alluring perfect eyes while her stomach is turning inside out as she anxiously waits for a response from him. She notices a look of confusion beginning to appear on Chuck's face, almost like his mind is becoming disorientated, she's still waiting, anxious in what feels like an eternity, before he finally responds.

"Agent Walker is it?" He asks.

Sarah's brain instantly stops dead in its track. 'Huh' She says to herself. 'What the heck?' Sarah doesn't know what is happening, she can only nod her head in response as once more like earlier, she is in a state of shock again.

On seeing her nod, Chuck continues "I'm afraid that information is highly classified, and way, way, way above your pay grade."

Once more, Sarah's brain stopped dead in her tracks. She doesn't know how to respond to this, this is the most awkward situation that she has ever been in throughout her entire life. She's physically gob smacked. Sarah's legs feel dead weight, like she's about to collapse.

'Are you absolutely sure this is Chuck?' She asks herself before once more looking up and down Chuck's appearance. 'No, this is absolutely him.'

Sarah doesn't know how to continue, and instinctively as an old habit, she moved to put her hand soothingly on Chuck's shoulder.

"Chuck, it's Sarah, don't you remember me?" She asks, feeling as if she is about to break apart once more as all of these emotions are too much for her.

What happened next, Sarah would never have imagined in a million years

"Agent Walker, if you don't remove your hand from me, I'll be forced to do it. And trust me, you don't want that." He says once more in the same hostile menacing tone that he had used with her in the brief conversation they had shared.

Sarah was breaking apart deep inside right now. She couldn't speak any more, she had nothing further to say. What can you say in response to that? 'He clearly does not want to talk to me.' Sarah says to herself, physically shaking in shock.

Sighing, she removes her arm from Chuck's shoulder, her world falling apart as he begins to fade into the shadows. He'd vanished out of sight now, and Sarah was just standing, rooted to the spot where she had just been involved in a confrontation with her former lover, tears filling up in her eyes.

"Sarah?" Morgan says with a tad bit of anger to his tone as he now realizes just who this woman actually is.

Sarah snaps out of her dream, before looking in the direction of Morgan, who was trying to put all of the pieces together "I'm sorry" is all Sarah can say, before she lets out a sob, before she turns and runs off into the direction of the women's rest room as fast as she possibly can.

"What the hell." Morgan says to Carina, who was looking as shocked as Morgan was.

"I should go after her." Carina hastily replies.

Morgan absolutely agrees, "go, go" he says as he ushers her with his hands in the direction of the woman's rest room where Sarah had just ran off to.

Carina quickly entered the bathroom, and seen her friend sitting inside one of the cubicles fully sobbing, she hadn't bothered to lock the door, and Carina rushed in and began to attempt to soothe probably one of the only people she loves in this world.

"Ssh Sarah," Carina pauses, "I'm here. I'm right here." she says as Sarah hugs into her.

"I'm sorry." is all Sarah continues to say as she sobs while thinking about nothing but her former lover, directly continuing to apologize to him.

"Let it all out." Carina says to her friend as she hugs and kisses her forehead, wiping away all of the tears on her friends face...


	5. I Love You Sarah

**Chapter Five**

 **I Love You Sarah**

 **14:45 hours Eastern Time**

 **Dam Neck Annex**

 **Naval Air Station Oceana**

 **Virginia Beach**

 **Virginia**

 **United States**

The 200 mile drive back from Langley to Virginia Beach that Chuck had just made didn't do much good at all for his tranquillity levels... Chuck still had a million questions running through his mind as he began to piece and put together more and more pieces to the puzzle on how Sarah Walker went from leaving his life six years ago to being inside that briefing room he had just been in. Chuck couldn't concentrate or focus properly the entire journey, which almost caused him to crash his car somewhere along the 95 from Washington to Richmond... Chuck needed some questions answered, and he was heading back to his base in record speed to get an answer to one in particular...

Applying pressure to the brakes on his car, Chuck came to a stop at the security checkpoint outside the main gate to his base. A sailor then approached the junior Commanders car, followed by another sailor accompanied with a canine sniffer dog as he begins to walk around the perimeter of Chuck's car as Chuck starts to wind down his drivers side window.

"Good afternoon, Commander." The Sailor says, addressing the Lieutenant Commander who he'd probably seen pass through these gates dozen of times, but orders are orders.

Chuck then proceeded to show the Seaman his personal Navy identity card, which was needed to get onto the base and you would never get onto it without one.

The experienced Chief Petty Officer then proceeded to hold Chuck as he waited for the all clear from his subordinate handling the canine before then nodding to the Lt Commander presently inside his vehicle.

"Thank you, Commander." The sailor said before signalling to another seaman inside a hut to lift up the barrier, as well as open the main gates to the base.

"You have yourself a good day Chief." Chuck replied to the seaman as he prepares to continue the final part of his journey.

"Thank you, you too sir." The experienced Chief Petty Officer replies, before standing to attention to salute the Lt Commander as he drives on by.

Passing a particular squad of SEALs from his troop, who all stop to salute their CO, Chuck drives on past completing the final part of his journey and pulls up outside his quarters. On stopping, Chuck took a moment to pick up the briefing file he had been handed at CIA headquarters, before proceeding to head rather hastily straight into his quarters.

On arriving inside of his quarters, Chuck threw the large file onto his desk, before Chuck immediately proceeded to switch on his monitor screen as he attempted to connect to his CO and father, Admiral Bartowski...

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

22:00 hours local time

Fifth Fleet

Carrier Strike Group

USS John C Stennis

Aircraft Carrier under command of ADM. Bartowski

Admiral's Quarters

Latitude 26.921088 N

Longitude 51.461456 E

Somewhere in the Persian Gulf

The Admiral was presently sat inside his quarters, unwinding after a particularly busy day of tasking which included giving a one hour briefing on an upcoming Special Forces Task Force. With a single glass of malt whisky in his hand, the Admiral takes the call of a young United States Navy Commander, who is presently in command at his behest of a squadron of DEVGRU, to which the Admiral has full command of. Furthermore, the young Commander also happens to be his son... The Admiral begins to fill up with pride as he begins to think of the achievements of his son's Naval Career in such a short space of time.

"Good evening, Commander." Admiral Bartowski says as the young Commander appears on screen.

Chuck waits and paces around his quarters while he is waiting to be connected to his father. "Okay Chuck, stay calm." He tells himself, as he paces around his office. Just as Chuck stops walking his father appears live on his screen. 'Nope, it's not working.' he tells himself, in response to his earlier demand just previously.

"Dad, what the fuck was Sarah doing at that briefing? She's CIA?"

'So much for being calm Chuck. Swearing to your CO and an Admiral of the Navy!' Chuck begins to berate himself as he waits for the inevitable rollickin' he's now about to receive.

"Uh son, I'm as surprised as you." Came the reply after a moments pause. 'He's lying, I know he's lying.' Chuck tells himself.

"Bullshit!" Chuck responds aggressively as he slams his hands on his desk in a brief moment of rage, before continuing, "Why didn't you tell me dad!"

"Commander! You are WAY out of line. Get a grip of yourself and start acting like the officer I know you are!" The Admiral screams in response to Chuck's hostility.

Having had a rollicking from his father slash CO, Chuck begins to muster every single amount of self control as he can muster to cool himself down before continuing. 'If you keep this attitude up Chuck, it's not going to end very well.' He tells himself.

Sighing to himself, Chuck continues, "Please Admiral, I need to know."

Knowing that there was no further way to avoid this topic of conversation, the Admiral sighed before beginning to tell Chuck what he knew.

"Chuck, this is the reason why I didn't tell you in the first place..." The Admiral paused momentarily, before continuing "I knew Sarah was CIA before she even left you, I'm an Admiral in the U.S. Navy for god sakes! I knew what it would do to you if you found out. So yes, I've kept it from you for as long as I possibly could, because you're my son and I love you."

Chuck had now sat down in his chair at his desk, having calmed down significantly since his outburst. This revelation to Chuck was huge, he was happy that he was now finally starting to get answers. So Sarah had been in the CIA before she left him. 'So that means she left me for the CIA?' Chuck begins to feel physically sick at the thought. 'That shows exactly how much she thought of me, choosing a career over being with the man she supposedly loved. I'll show her a career move.'

"Admiral, I want her to be reassigned. I just can't work with her. It's impossible." Chuck said in response to his father.

"That's not going to happen Chuck, you just need to get on with it."

"But dad," Chuck tried to protest.

"Right now, it's Admiral!" The Admiral snaps suddenly in response.

"Yes sir, Admiral." Chuck has no choice but to say in response as his father was glaring at him making him feel two feet tall through the monitor.

"Commander, you're stood down. Report to me again on Monday with a better attitude, or there will be dire consequences. I understand you're in shock, but you need to start behaving like an Officer! People depend on you son, a distracted soldier, is a dead soldier. You owe it to every single sailor under your command to remain composed. Sort yourself out, it's an order." And with that, the Admiral cut the transmission with his son.

Breathing out a deep audible sigh, Chuck put his head in his hands deep in thoughts.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

CIA Headquarters

The rest of the day had been uneventful for Sarah. Since her earlier confrontation with her former lover, it took her almost twenty minutes to leave that bathroom before reporting to her duties. Carina had seriously advised Sarah to just go home but Sarah needed to be here so she didn't have to think about him, though it wasn't helping all that much, because she couldn't stop thinking about him...

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

22:00 hours

Somewhere in Virginia Beach

"Fill me up again." Chuck says to the barmaid at the bar he was presently at.

"Chuck, I think you've had enough." The young blonde barmaid replied as she tries to protest to him.

"I said fill me up, please." Chuck replies calmly, taking no notice of the young ladies advice.

Sighing, the barmaid reluctantly does as instructed, before going back behind the bar to pick up the phone receiver once she had finished attending to Chuck's presently excessive drinking needs.

"Yo, yo, Morgan Grimes here." Morgan answers his phone to somebody who just dialled his number, he doesn't recognize the number.

"hey Morgan, it's Katie from Bar Blue." A young female replies.

'Bar blue, bar blue?' Morgan thinks to himself. 'Oh!' 'She's hot!'

"Oh hey doll, how ya doing?" Morgan replies in a confident flirtatious voice.

"Fine. Look, I've got your friend Chuck here, he's in a pretty rotten state and is refusing to leave, I don't know what to do."

Morgan sighs to himself for a long moment. "I'll be over right away, don't worry your pretty little face about it, I'll handle it, just keep him there until I get over there, ok doll?" Morgan asks as he begins to throw on some clothes before heading out to his Porshe 911 Carrera.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Morgan had now arrived at the bar that his best friend and CO was currently at pretty sharply. Entering the bar, Morgan saw Chuck over in the corner seated on a barstool, the bar was pretty empty, apart from Chuck and another guy sitting on their own there was a group of three males around the age of Chuck and Morgan and he could tell by their tattoos that they were Marines.

Morgan walked up to the bar to greet the bar maid that he was on good terms with.

"Hey doll, how many of those has he had?" Morgan asked while nodding in the direction of the glass Chuck was holding.

"At least a dozen, and not singles either." The attractive bar maid replied.

"Anything else happened?" Morgan asked her as he was curious about the well being of his brother.

"Nope, he's been very quiet and respectful, he's just drinking himself into a mess. Though he did have a slight confrontation with those guys over there." The barmaid replies while pointing in the direction of the Marines.

Morgan glances once more at the group of three Marines who were staring at Chuck pretty distastefully.

"Ok, thanks doll. I'll take it from here." Morgan says to the barmaid before heading over to his CO and best friend.

"Hey buddy, why don't we get you home hey?"

"I'm fine, leave me alone Organ." Chuck slurrs out in response. Morgan hates being called Organ and would usually be offended, but it was clear to all that Chuck was in a very bad state right now.

"Eh, I'm not so sure you are fine buddy. Come on, let's get you home yeah?" Morgan replies, as he goes up to Chuck and puts his brother in arms under his arm, who didn't bother to resist.

Morgan then begins to help his drunken friend towards the exit of the bar before pausing, as a Marine was presently standing in his way.

"Your friend has a big mouth!" The marine shouts to Morgan who was standing infront of him.

Morgan stops calmly, whistling away before putting Chuck onto one of the bar stools at the bar he was standing next to. "You wait right there, sweet prince. Uncle Morgan will be right back." Morgan says to Chuck while patting him on the head before turning to the intruder.

"The next word I hear from you, I unleash the dragon." Morgan warns to the guy presently standing in his way.

The guy standing in front of Morgan and the two guys seated around a bar table all burst into laughter.

"Look at this geek." The guy standing in Morgan's way joked as he turned to laugh with his friends.

Still whistling away, Morgan grabbed hold of the arm of the guy standing infront of him with his back presently turned to Morgan pulling it with such ferocity that he heard something snap as he turned him to face Morgan again, before proceeding to punch him right on his nose, before expertly kicking, or known as sweeping the leg, causing the guy to fall to the floor screaming, "You broke my arm and nose! You bastard!"

The two guys at the table began to fill with rage, "What the fucking hell! That's our friend!" They began to yell as they dived up from their seats and all lunged in the direction of Morgan.

"Oh, this is gonna be fun." Morgan says excited in the direction of Chuck, before engaging in hand to hand combat with the two Marines, with one of them even smashing a glass bottle to use as a weapon. Just like the first guy who fell to the floor, Morgan dispatched of the remaining two guys lunging at him with such ferocity and the fight was over in no more than a minute after it had began.

"Is that all you got! Come on! I haven't even warmed up yet!" Morgan says filled with such disappointment that these small time punks had offered him no challenge.

"I think I need the hospital. This asshole has broke my arm." One of them manages to say as they all lay on the floor moaning in pain.

Whistling once more, Morgan turns to Chuck and puts him under his arm once more, before turning a final time to the three guys on the floor and saying, "Just be happy I let you guys off lightly. A couple of broken bones, an overnight stay in hospital, you'll be fine." Morgan pauses before nodding his head in the direction of Chuck under his arm, "There's a reason we call this guy Chuck Norris, he would destroy you in his present state with his eyes closed, you messed with the wrong person." He ends, before turning in the direction of the barmaid who was standing in shock, winking at her, before finally leaving the bar saying to Chuck "Lets get you home buddy." as he put Chuck into his car before heading back to Morgan's apartment.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Morgan's Apartment

Somewhere in Virginia Beach

Morgan and Chuck had just got back to Morgan's apartment, and Morgan was helping his best friend into his apartment, he set him down on his sofa while Chuck was mumbling away drunkenly. "I loved her Morgan. I loved her with everything I had, and she left me, for the CIA." He says as he begins to laugh hysterically before saying, "I think I'm gonna be sick." before spewing all over Morgan's rug.

"Oh crap, not cool man, that's going to be expensive." Morgan says as his mind raced with thoughts about his cleaning bill before going to fetch a blanket to put over his friend, "I love you Sarah" he hears his best friend say before he falls into a serious drunken slumber.

"Oh crap." Morgan says to himself and the sleeping figure of his best friend before heading to bed himself.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Chuck woke up the next day still on Morgan's sofa taking a minute to realize that he was at Morgan's place. Chuck had crashed here so many times after he and Morgan had come home drunk from some bar and even Bryce when he was still alive. It was Saturday and Chuck always has plans of a Saturday when he's not deployed. Panicking, Chuck checked the time on his watch to make sure that he wasn't late; 09:33 hours his watch read. 'Oh that's good, I have plenty of time.' Chuck says as he stretches himself, before heading into the kitchen where he could smell food.

"Good morning, sweet prince." Morgan jokes to his best friend as he enters the kitchen. "Sleep well?" He asks, as Chuck lets out a yawn.

"Like a light. I feel like crap, though." Chuck states while holding onto his stomach that wasn't feeling all that great.

"How come you didn't invite me along buddy? You know you aren't supposed to drink yourself into those states without your wingman, I'm offended brother." Morgan replies while holding one of his hands on his heart.

"Sorry buddy, I hope I didn't say or do anything I regret?" Chuck asks his best friend in response.

"Nothing at all buddy, nothing at all. Get this down you." Morgan replies as he hands Chuck some breakfast.

"Thanks." Chuck replies sincerely.

"No problem at all buddy, you've looked out for me a thousand times. It's the least I can do." Morgan jokes laughingly in reply...

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Chuck and Morgan had just arrived back in Washington D.C just after 14:00 hours local time and the drive had been much easier than the day previously, though that was in part because Morgan had insisted on driving Chuck up to D.C. But just overall in general, Chuck felt much more composed and his mind was more at peace as he put Sarah entirely to the back of his thoughts as Chuck had blew off all his steam regarding that the night before. Chuck said he would be fine to drive up himself, but if he still had alcohol remaining in his system, and got caught, he could be Court Martialled so Morgan wouldn't take the chance. Besides, Morgan wanted to come to D.C anyway, as he had plans to meet an extremely attractive red haired CIA agent he was deeply attracted to.

The two best friends, officers and brothers in arms stopped at a few stores while in town. Morgan wanted to drop off his rug at a cleaners that Chuck had vomited on the night before. Chuck being Chuck insisting on fronting the bill, but Morgan has probably trashed Chuck's apartment several times over in all the years that they had known each other so Morgan hastily declined the offering telling him, "This one is on me buddy."

Morgan began to smirk as he thought of all the shenanigans the two wingmen had gotten up to in the years they had known each other.

Aside from dropping his rug off at a cleaners, Chuck wanted to pick up a few things from Walmart, and Morgan needed a few bits and pieces as well.

The two best friends had finished shopping, and Morgan had just dropped Chuck off at his destination.

"Have a good weekend Morgan and don't do anything I wouldn't do." Chuck says as he says his final farewells to his friend who had got out of his car to see his friend off.

"I'm not so sure about that brother." Morgan jokes to his best friend in response.

"I'll see you on Monday buddy. You look after yourself." Chuck finishes.

"You too man. Say hello from me, yeah?" Morgan asks to which Chuck agrees as the two friends shoulder bump each other and shake hands as a farewell.

Morgan then got back into his car, got out his smart phone and began to dial the red haired CIA Agent as he drove off to meet her, tooting his horn to Chuck as he left.

Chuck began to walk up the drive to a house in the street he was in. Taking a minute to gather his thoughts, Chuck then proceeds to knock on the door, rather difficultly as his hands were full of shopping bags.

Chuck was waiting patiently for several seconds before a young little girl opens the door, less than half the height of Chuck.

"Mommy, mommy, Chuck is here!" The little girl begins to scream in excitement as she leaps into Chuck's arms who had crouched down to greet somebody he loved so much.

"Hi sweet girl, how are you? I have missed you." Chuck says as he kisses the girl on her forehead.

A mid twenties brown haired attractive female then appeared behind her daughter.

"Hi Chuck," she says, as they share a hug and a kiss to each other's cheek mid hug.

"Hi Jill, how are you?" To which Chuck responds.


	6. Godfather

_This is just a short booster chapter to the last one guys. More info at the end of the chapter._

* * *

 _Previously: Taking a minute to gather his thoughts, he then proceeds to knock on the door, rather difficultly as his hands were full of shopping bags._

 _Chuck was waiting patiently for several seconds before a young little girl opens the door, less than half the height of Chuck._

 _"Mommy, mommy, Chuck is here!" The little girl begins to scream in excitement as she leaps into Chuck's arms who had crouched down to greet somebody he loved so much._

 _"Hi sweet girl, how are you. I have missed you." Chuck says as he kisses the girl on her forehead._

 _A mid twenties brown haired attractive female then appeared behind her daughter._

 _"Hi Chuck," she says, as they share a hug and a kiss to each other's cheek mid hug._

 _"Hi Jill, how are you?" To which Chuck responds._

* * *

Chuck was presently sitting inside the living room of Jill Larkin, widow of the late Gold Squadron DEVGRU member Lieutenant Bryce Larkin. Chuck was on the floor of the room playing with his god-daughter. Being made godfather to this beautiful girl was one of the happiest days of Chuck's life. Chuck remembers the day Bryce and Jill had asked him to become godfather to Hollie. Chuck remembers Bryce saying to him he couldn't think of anybody better than Chuck and he would be honoured to have him as a godparent to Hollie. For Chuck, of course there was only one answer without even needing to think about the responsibilities it entailed in response to his best friend's proposition, and that was that it would be HIS honour to be Godfather to Hollie. Chuck loves this girl as if she were his own daughter, and he spends as much time as he possibly can here, helping out the small family of two.

"Hey, Chuck would you like some lunch I was just making some for Hollie and me." Jill asks Chuck while laughing as he presently had her daughter raised in the air and was using her as a toy airplane.

"Uh, no thanks. I'm not feeling to great down below right now, rough night, haha." Chuck says as he starts blowing raspberries at his god daughter.

Jill laughs as she turns to head toward her kitchen.

"Mommy can Chuck take me to the park?" Hollie asks after her mother.

"You'll have to ask him sweet heart." Jill shouts from the kitchen to her young daughter.

"Chuck can you take me to the park pweease"

"Have you been a good girl, done all your chores?" He asks.

Hollie nods her head up and down in response inches away from her godparent.

"Then we absolutely can." He says before beginning a tickling assault on her.

"Stop." The young girl screams in laughter.

After Chuck finishes his tickling assault on Hollie, he hands the three shopping bags he had picked up from Walmart and tells his god daughter to go and take them to her mother, "Hey Hollie why don't you go and take these to your mother, they're all for you, no peeking now." he says, tapping her ever so gently on the nose.

Hollie runs off super excited with the presents to her mother who removes the items from the shopping bags. "Aw how cute is he." Jill says to one of the teddy bears that Chuck had picked up.

"Oh wow, some super awesome dolls to." Jill says as she picks up a set of toy dolls waving them in the air causing her young daughter to giggle.

"Why don't we go and say thank you to Chuck."

Jill leads her daughter back into Chuck

"Thank you Chuck." Hollie says as she runs back into Chuck's arms.

"Chuck you shouldn't have." Jill says sincerely.

Chuck waves her off "Nonsense." he says laughing as Hollie was pulling at his ears...

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Chuck was now at the park with his god daughter presently chasing after Hollie as she was playfully running away from him as he was chasing after her running at the speed of an old man laughing as he says, "I'm going to get you." as he waves his arms around like a lunatic.

They were near an ice cream van that was super busy when Chuck decides to stop for them to get some themselves.

"Hey lets go get some ice cream." Chuck says as his god daughter quickly runs back to him and hugs into him at the mention of ice cream.

"Yay!" Hollie screams in delight as they queue up for ice cream.

The pair then sit down on one of the park benches watching ducks in the pond while eating their ice creams.

"Chuck?" Hollie asks as her mouth was full with ice cream.

"Yes, sweet heart?" Chuck says as he laughs looking at her messy ice cream face.

"I miss daddy." The little girl pines as she buries her head into Chuck becoming very emotional.

Chuck kisses the top of his god daughters head as her words begin to have a major impact on his emotional state of mind touching him deep inside his core with every single string in his heart beginning to pull as he has to choke back tears.

"Can I tell you a secret, that you can't tell anybody?" He says as he strokes her hair.

Hollie nods into Chuck's chest where she had buried her face.

"I miss him too." Chuck says as he lifts her face back so she can look him in the eyes before continuing, "And so does your mommy, more than anything. And you need to be strong for her. Can you do that, for me?" Chuck asks while still choking back tears.

"Yes Chuck, I can do that." The young girl replies emotionally. "Why did he have to go." She pines once more.

"Well, he was very, very, very sick." Chuck lied in response to his god daughter, though this was one lie he absolutely didn't mind. Chuck would never be telling his god daughter how his best friend died, at any age that is for sure. What Chuck seen that day... No, nobody should have to see that.

Still trying to choke back a sudden tidal wave of emotions, Chuck senses it's time to leave as neither of them felt like playing anymore.

"Come on, let's get you home." Chuck says as he began to wipe her ice cream face before the pair head back to Bryce's family home.


	7. Navy Cross

_More Sarah will come guys. She just doesn't have much background, it's Chuck who has undergone a significant character change, so I'm building up his character, showing his background._

 _Warning: This chapter contains a lot of cussing and detailed military fight scenes including hand to hand combat._

* * *

 _Chuck's six man team for reference:_

 _Lieutenant Commander Bartowski- Commanding Officer / Lead Assaulter / Marksman_

 _Lieutenant Bryce Larkin - Breacher_

 _Master Chief Special Warfare Operator James Garcia - Senior NCO and Marksman_

 _Chief Special Warfare Operator Sean White_

 _Second Class Special Warfare Operator John Miller - Corpsman_

 _Second Class Special Warfare Operator Ray Gonzalez_

* * *

 **Chapter Seven**

 **The Navy Cross**

Chuck left the Larkin family home after having had dinner with the Larkin family. Hollie had begged Chuck to stay for dinner and that little girl was just so sweet he couldn't resist her pleas so he stayed for dinner and then said his farewells to the young family.

* * *

He had now arrived at Arlington Military Ceremony, the place where he has been many times throughout the six years of his military career, the place where seven of his brothers in arms were all laid to rest, alongside many of America's fallen heroes spanning back hundreds of years. This mass memorial site was huge, but the place that Chuck was paying particular attention to, was the south east part of the cemetery, which is the burial ground for military personnel killed in the War on Terror 2001 on-wards.

Paying his respects to all six Operators that had died under his command, he arrives at the seventh one, his best friend.

Chuck kneels on one knee at the grave of his best friend that reads;

 **Bryce Larkin**

 **Lieutenant**

 **Navy Cross**

 **Purple Heart**

 **Loving Father, Husband**

 **10.01.1981 -**

 **04.04.2006**

"Hey buddy, I'm back again." Chuck says as he is in deep thoughts about what he wants to say while he is here. He continues, "I just can't seem to stay away and leave you in peace can I?" before pausing to laugh. "heh."

He continues to talk to his fallen friend once more, "I just seem to find it easier to talk to the dead than the living. I guess the saying 'The dead won't bother you, it's the living you have to worry about.' is pretty true, huh."

"Oh," Chuck remembers, "some pretty big news, the woman I spent years trying to get over is back. And she's a CIA Agent who I'm tasked with liaising with in an upcoming op. What are the chances of that buddy? Almost like 3 young guys from Burbank joining the teams at the same time having never met each other prior, heh."

"If there's a plan up there for me, then I'd sure love to know how it's going to play out. Because it seems pretty clouded right now. I guess it's too much to ask for you to let me in on whatever is being planned up there buddy."

He pauses, before continuing once more, "Hollie is growing up so quickly, you would be so proud of her man. She's really handled the last few months so well, for somebody so young. We all miss you buddy. Your mother also told me to pay her respects to you, she's not doing too well at the moment, she's been very ill. I wish I could get over there man but you know what it's like with all the constant weapons and tactical training exercises, I've switched to a new rifle that has recently just been manufactured, the FN Scar. It's pretty darn good buddy, the amount of stoppages are far less than the Carbines, I've clocked up over a hundred hours with the rifle, which has been pretty fun I have to admit. This weapon fires better than any other rifle I've ever used, you would love it man. Morgan and the boys also send their love buddy."

Suddenly a wave of emotions hits Chuck as he reaches his hand out to touch his friend's plaque. "And I'm so sorry man," Chuck begins to break down, "If I could trade places with you, you know I would. I will never understand why you did what you did Bryce, you had a young family to care for. I guess you were just looking out for me, like a brother. I love you man, and I know we've probably already had this conversation several times and I guess you're growing sick of it, but I'll find the bastard Bryce, if it's the last thing that I do on this earth, I promise you I will find him and he will pay..."

* * *

 **April 2006**

 **Ramadi, Iraq**

 **Fire Team Delta, Gold Squadron, DEVGRU**

 **Observation Post**

 **13:00 hours local time**

Lieutenant Commander Bartowski and five other elite Operators from his small Counter Insurgency Fire Team were presently hunkered down inside an apartment building on the second floor of an apartment complex roughly two hundred metres away from a four story apartment complex that they had under surveillance. This particular apartment that the operators were inside belonged to a CIA informant. The snitch in exchange for money had provided Intelligence officials with information of a safe house and possible bomb making factory being used by an insurgent group operating out of the city before carrying out attacks on coalition troops and civilians. Top Intelligence officials wanted eyes on who enters and leaves the building so that they could build up a bigger picture of who they were dealing with and Chuck's team has been tasked with monitoring and observing who comes in and out of the building, to try and build up that picture and further intelligence. The higher ups were hoping to land a big fish, as they believe this apartment complex to be a gold mine of information that could lead to them to capturing a High Value Target or information on a bomb making factory at the minimum. The small team had inserted the night previously and arrived in two civilian transport vehicles, they set up observation and had been here for just shy of eleven hours.

Since 06:00 hours this morning, the operators had observed three military age males entering the building in question on foot, individually and hadn't exited again since. All this information was being relayed back to the situation room back at their main base in Baghdad via advanced surveillance equipment that the team had brought with them as command and intelligence officials coordinated the mission from base. The operators were dressed in full combat gear, including their standard issue advanced sets of Night Vision Goggles that they put to use the previous night as they inserted into the three story apartment complex and into the apartment on the second floor. Each operator had their personal assault rifles with limited ammunition for a small engagement as their main objective was to observe and then exfiltrate under the cover of darkness. LCDR Bartowski and Master Chief SWO Garcia as Marksmen had their personal McMillan tac-338 bolt action sniper rifles in addition to their assault rifles.

As well as their weaponry, each Special Forces soldier is required to have a helmet cam attached to their helmet, which relays information back to command. This particular piece of equipment is extremely helpful during raids because the live feed it relays back to the situation room can quickly help intelligence officials determine if the teams hit a gold mine and capture a HVT as opposed to releasing them, due to a lack of information, which has happened countless times...

The elite soldiers had took turns on watch since arriving and LCDR Chuck Bartowski was presently stood down and taking forty winks on the floor of the informants living room.

Lieutenant Bryce Larkin, the team's Breacher, was on the sofa. SWO Second Class John Miller, the team's Corpsman was on the opposite side of the room lazing back against the wall.

SWO Second Class Ray Gonzales was stationed to cover the rear while Master Chief SWO James Garcia and Chief SWO Sean White were in control of the surveillance equipment, or in the case of Garcia, his sniper rifle and were watching the apartment under observation and the area in the vicinity.

The six seasoned operators were all pretty idle right now when Master Chief SWO Garcia suddenly noticed out of his sniper rifle a black sedan pull up outside the apartment block in question.

"Heads up," The experienced Master Chief says as the five operators all snap out of their thoughts and focus on the Master Chief who continues, "Commander sir, I've got eyes on a vehicle just pulling up outside the safe house, four military age males leaving the vehicle and heading into the premises." The experienced Master Chief SWO told the rest of his team.

All six operators suddenly become very alert and were no longer idle as adrenalin began to build up in their bodies.

"You getting that Chief?" LCDR Bartowski asks to his Chief SWO in charge of the surveillance technology.

"Aye, sir." the NCO replies.

"Command, we've just observed four military age males entering safe house, over." Chuck relays the information just passed on to him from his two spotters to main command.

"Roger, we see it, running faces through our databases. Stand by, over."

"Roger, over." Chuck responds to control.

Spotting another moving vehicle out of his scope, the Master Chief once more informed his CO of movement. "Oh fuck. Sir, another vehicle has just pulled up."

The LCDR and LT were suddenly both on their feet and had walked over to the vantage point to observe what was going down.

"Something's about to go down here Commander." Bryce says to his CO.

"Yeah, looks that way." Chuck replies to his XO before reporting in the latest development.

"Command, another vehicle has just arrived at safe house, are you still receiving our feed, over."

"Roger that, wait two, out." Comes the reply from command and control.

Chuck had now relieved his Master Chief and had eyes on the target himself.

Suddenly, a middle age male in his forties appeared in view who had come out of the apartment to greet the guys who left the second vehicle. Chuck recognized him immediately, number thirteen on the CIA's high value target capture/kill list.

"Oh fuck, it's Red Eye." Chuck exclaimed.

The five frogmen under Chuck's command immediately looked in the direction of their CO with the implications of his discovery visible on their faces.

"That's the bastard whose cell ambushed a military aid convoy two weeks ago killing 5 U.S. troops. He's been responsible for at least a dozen bombings in the last three months." Bryce said with venom to his voice.

"Holy fuck. We've hit a gold mine boys." The experienced Master Chief exclaimed excitedly.

Not wasting any time, Chuck reported in the latest development, "Command, we have eyes on Red Eye, over."

"Repeat that last transmission, over." Comes the reply with urgency in the voice over the communications channel.

"We have eyes on Red Eye, over." Chuck repeats once more.

Suddenly, another voice appeared on Chuck's communication channel, one that he hadn't heard throughout this particular mission so far.

"Are you absolutely certain Commander." The mystery voice asks.

"Who is this, over." Chuck asks in response to the mystery voice's demand.

"This is Special Agent Shaw, CIA, Regional Head of Operations, and I will repeat my question, are you absolutely sure Commander?"

"Look for yourself, we're transmitting live feed, over." Chuck replies. He's heard of Shaw, this is one guy you don't want to mess with, head of CIA Black Ops in Iraq, also responsible for the 'wellbeing' of all the HVT's the special operations teams capture, and Chuck is pretty sure that wellbeing involves waterboarding and whatever other torture tactics that are being used.

"Wait five." Shaw replies over comms.

* * *

 **Several Minutes Later**

Chuck's team were still unchanged inside the apartment building with eyes onto the safe house being used by an insurgent cell. Red Eye had re entered the apartment complex and there was now at least ten military age males inside the apartment complex.

Suddenly, Shaw appears back on comms.

"Commander, your team is ordered to assault safe house and extract Red Eye, over."

"Negative, we're not geared for an assault, we're a small observational detachment, over." Chuck immediately replies, unwilling to assault an apartment complex containing at least ten insurgent fighters with only six operators.

"Look Commander, this might be the only chance we have to grab this bastard, and from the looks of it, his cell are in the advanced stages of an attack, you are ordered to assault the safe house, confirm you acknowledge, over."

Chuck closes off his communication channel with command, "Fuck!" he exclaims.

"What's going down Commander? They want us to bring in the bastard?" Chief SWO White asks his CO.

"Yeah, they want us to assault and extract."

"We're under manned and we have limited gear, shit." Bryce exclaims.

"Yeah, how much breaching equipment do we have Bryce?" Chuck asks his XO.

"Only enough for two rooms sir, and there's probably a dozen in that building." Bryce replies to his CO.

"God damnit!" Chuck exclaims once more before looking around at each of his Operators while deep in thoughts.

"We could go in quiet, try to pick the doors quietly and go room to room." Bryce suggests, eager to capture the bastard who had orchestrated the killing of scores of people.

"Yeah, maybe." Chuck begins to think over his XO's suggestions.

"Shall we do it, thoughts guys?" He asks, having took a minute to consider the possibility, Chuck begins looking around once more at all his operators expecting a democratic vote.

"Lets just fucking do it sir." Bryce speaks first.

"Yeah?" He asks, looking around his remaining men.

"aye sir." Gonzales says nodding.

"Let's get this bastard." The Master Chief says.

"Fuckin' ay." Comes the reply from Second Class Miller.

"It's as good a day as any for it sir." Chief SWO White says, finishing the vote with a resounding six to zero. Chuck could always count on his men to back him up, as a matter of a fact, he wanted this bastard just as much as all his men did.

"Out gunned and out manned, at least they have a chance." Bryce jokes.

"Yeah, I'd give them better odds this time, shall we say eight to one?" Gonzales jokes.

"Nah, more like fucking twenty to one, we have Chuck Norris." The Master Chief jokes.

"fuckin' ay!" Second Class Miller laughs.

* * *

The elite operators had packed up all their surveillance equipment and had confirmed on comms that they received and acknowledged Shaw's order who had took over personal command of this mission. Chuck was now in the advanced stages and was making final assault preparations to assault the apartment complex and extract red eye.

"Ok, Garcia, I want you to set up here. Watch our six as we advance up the street to the target building. Gonzales, you get the unlucky task of staying on the ground floor of this building, you shouldn't see action but if you see anybody reaching you take them out! Cover our retreat and get the vehicles ready for a hot exfil as this whole area is probably crawling with militants. Fucking CIA, always getting us to do their dirty work." Chuck pauses briefly for last minute weapon checks, as his other operators were all presently undergoing the same task while also readjusting their combat back packs and checked that all pouches were sealed etc. Bryce had also got his breaching equipment ready to the front of his pack.

Chuck continues once more, "I'll head the assault team. Bryce bring up my six. Miller follow up on the LT. White, you bring up the rear. We only want Red Eye, any other fucker with a gun you take him out. Remember your training, watch your corners. But I don't need to tell you that, we've done this dozens of times."

"Questions?" Chuck finishes off.

"Is it true you cried during Marley & Me sir?" Gonzales jokes, probably hurt that his CO left him in a supporting role.

"Ask your wife, I watched it with her." Chuck retorts.

"Oh no he didn't!" Miller laughs, followed by the whole team bursting into laughter.

"Let's do this guys." Chuck says as a final note, as the team flood out of the apartment and down to ground level leaving the experienced Master Chief on overwatch.

* * *

Chuck's small fire team of four were now out onto the street and were advancing in close formation toward the apartment complex. Gonzales was positioned just outside the apartment keeping a watchful eye of the immediate vicinity as the small assault team advanced up as a tight knitted group, weapons trained watching every single angle with expert precision. It was like watching an orchestra.

"Commander, we have on your ten o'clock a young male behind a market stall, unclear on his intentions but he seems nervy." The Master Chief reports.

"Roger that, I see him, if you feel he's a threat you put one through him." Chuck orders his Master Chief.

"And don't miss you bastard." Bryce interjects as he scans his angle for any threat.

"Nah, he learnt how to shoot from Chuck Norris." Says Miller as he also trains his weapon looking for any target.

"That'll do boys, eyes on the prize. We're outgunned here and this city is militant central. Any bastard could take a pop at us from any one of these buildings." Chuck says, as he scans windows of buildings they quickly advanced past.

* * *

Chuck's small team were now outside the four story Apartment block that they had under surveillance all morning and were now preparing to breach.

"Anything Master Chief?" Chuck asks his Master Chief on overwatch as Chuck continues to scan windows of buildings surrounding the small team.

"Not a whisper. Guy from the market stall shat himself as you advanced toward him, scarpered off somewhere."

"Affirm." Chuck replies to his NCO.

Chuck taps his breacher on the shoulder. "We good?" He whispers.

"Yup, just about done." Bryce finishes, as the lock to the main door of the apartment complex clicks open and the four man team enter into the four story building.

Chuck gives the hand signal to his Corpsman to cover the stairwell while the remaining three members go room to room.

"Aye sir." Second Class Miller whispers in response to his CO while he raises his weapon up to cover the stairwell.

The next six minutes went by without incident as LCDR Bartowski, LT Larkin and Chief White cleared out the two rooms on the ground floor. They had breached silently with Bryce deploying a fibre optic camera to peek through the doors prior to him picking the lock. Not by a coincidence, they had also deployed this tactic much earlier in the day when they first arrived at the CIA informants apartment. The team might have been walking into an ambush and had no assurances that the apartment they entered was safe and not jam packed full with a bunch of militants ready to blow them into a million pieces.

"Situation report?" Shaw suddenly asks over Chuck's communication channel.

"Ground floor of apartment cleared. Two militants neutralized, one unknown bound and secured. Advancing to first floor, out." Chuck replies, before telling SWO Second Class Gonzales to bring up one of their extraction vehicles to the main entrance they had just cleared.

"Aye sir." Gonzales responded, as he entered into the civilian car, before powering the ignition and heading toward the safe house speaking to the Master Chief on overwatch in the process.

"Watch my back Master Chief, I'll be exposed as fuck down here."

"I got you baby." The Master Chief says in response as he scans his field of view through his scope on his weapon looking for any moving target.

Chuck, Bryce, Miller and White then began to ascend the stairwell onto the first floor. On reaching the first floor, Bryce began to use his fibre optic camera to the door of one of the apartments just as he had done on the previous floor when suddenly a door opens on the floor they were on near the stairwell leading up to the second floor, a young male suddenly appears about twenty feet away from them and is about to head into the direction of the small fire team as he stops dead in his tracks noticing the Americans. Chuck and Miller who were protecting the rear had the early twenties Iraqi male in their field of view and the operators, unsure of his intentions or who he even was made a split second decision and determined he was a threat to them and dispatched of him by each firing two rounds a piece from their suppressed assault rifles as the lifeless body drops to the floor with a loud thud. A second male suddenly appears seconds later investigating the noise and sees his friend laying lifeless on the floor, he immediately runs back inside the apartment where the two Iraqi's had just exited screaming something in Arabic.

"Shit!" Chuck exclaims, knowing the silent approach to the operation was now over and they had been compromised.

The small American team began to hear lots of shouts and screams coming from the upper echelons of the apartment complex and from the open door room where two Iraqi's had emerged seconds previously.

Bryce and White had turned to see the dead Iraqi male on the floor and knowing they now had no more time to waste, they both turned as Bryce kicked open the door to the nearest apartment to them immediately throwing in a flashbang as the two frogmen rushed in to clear a completely empty room.

Chuck radioed through to command while training his weapon sights toward the apartment where the two males had just emerged from that their team had been compromised and requested immediate support as they didn't have enough personnel to engage in a full on firefight.

* * *

Back in the situation room command and control immediately assembled a Rapid Reaction Force consisting of U.S. Army Rangers and Apache Gunships in support of the helicopters that the force loaded into. ETA was twenty minutes.

* * *

Departing the empty room, the small SEAL team further advanced on the first floor to take the fight to the enemy as they came under small arms fire from the second and third floor stair wells. Miller and White began returning fire as Bryce and Chuck rushed on ahead past the lifeless corpse on the floor with Bryce firing a sole round into the lifeless corpse to be absolutely sure it offered no further threat to the team. As Chuck and Bryce got near to the room with the open door they could hear two males speaking inside the room, probably waiting for somebody to appear. The two operators were too well trained and seasoned for that however, and prepared another flashbang and were in the room in an instant taking out two males armed with assault rifles. By now, the small team was coming under some serious small arms fire from at least four AK47 assault rifles from the upper floors of the apartment complex and had to all take cover inside the apartment that the earlier militant had exited from. "Holy fuck! Sir there's fucking RPG's and everything in here." SWO Chief White says to his CO.

"Fuck me, we've just saved some poor fuckers from being seriously hurt here." Bryce says at the revelation of the arms they had stumbled across in just this apartment alone.

* * *

Meanwhile, the two operators posted outside had, had several contacts.

Firstly, Master Chief Garcia had spotted a militant on the third floor window, he dispatched of him with a clean headshot, before readjusting his sights down to ground level to cover Ray Gonzales as an SUV truck carrying several militants had arrived on the street. The militants presently battling Chuck's fire team inside the apartment complex had probably called in backup, or the guy who ran away from the market stall was a lookout for the safe house. It could have been either.

The experienced Master Chief quickly fired a round with precise precision to the driver of the Pick Up Truck, causing the Truck to crash with several of the militants falling off the truck in the crash.

By now, Gonzales had exited the vehicle and began to rain down fire on the side passenger inside the truck before switching his attention to the militants who had fallen off the pick up truck and took cover anywhere they could find.

A further two hostile vehicles began to arrive and it was becoming increasingly hectic and difficult for the two Operators to crowd control outside the apartment when suddenly, the Master Chief seen Ray Gonzales get hit. He instantly went down and the Master Chief couldn't see any muzzle fire coming from his location.

The Master Chief had no time to mourn his friend who was presumably K.I.A and focused his sights on an increasing number of armed militants who had arrived in the three vehicles thus far.

"Commander, Ray has been hit. I think he's KIA we need fucking help now!" He says, as he begins to fire off rounds at the insurgents. Managing to pick off two more before they pinpointed the Master Chief's position and began to bombard him with small arms fire as a fourth vehicle had now arrived.

"Fuck me!" The Master Chief exclaimed as he dived for cover and crawled along the floor to readjust his position.

* * *

Back on the first floor inside the apartment complex, Chuck's small fire team were exchanging fire with the militants who had them penned into an apartment.

"Fuck!" Chuck exclaims suddenly "What is it sir?" Chief SWO White asks as he is returning fire with the insurgents. "Ray's been hit. KIA." Says Chuck as the pair both exchange fire.

"Fucking bastards!" White goes into a rage as he returns fire on the insurgents on the upper floors of the complex.

"Command, our position is seriously compromised here. We have one KIA and need that support, NOW!" Chuck transmits.

"ETA 15 minutes, over."

"SCREW YOU!" Chuck says as he returns fire with the militants shooting at the LCDR and Chief SWO.

Bryce suddenly screams to his CO and the Chief "You might want to move out the way!"

"Oh shit!" Chuck and White exclaim as they dive to the floor as Bryce had an RPG in his hand and was aiming it at an upper stairwell of the apartment complex.

Taking aim, he fires it before the operators all scramble back to their feet screaming something similar along the lines of "Have some of that you bastards!"

Just as all four of the operators had ran out of the apartment that they were holed up in, the Master Chief comes on air once more "Sir, you've got militants heading up to you. I'm being pinned down here I can't keep them at bay, sorry sir." He says as he was now outside on the street taking cover behind one of their exit vehicles, attempting to return fire every so often.

"Sean!" Chuck exclaims.

"Already on it, sir." The operator said, as he turned away from the other three operators and doubled back to the stairs leading down to the ground floor to hold of the insurgents who had entered the apartment.

Bryce, Chuck and Miller, in that order were now ascending up to the second floor as Chuck remembers his training instructors words of wisdom "Move forward, take the fight to them, it's the last thing they're expecting, you're dead anyway, so anything you do is a bonus.'

* * *

The three operators were now on the second floor close to where the RPG had landed and blown out a pretty big chunk of the wall. There were no survivors inside that particular apartment and they were about to advance on further to the next apartment and then onto the third floor where they were still taking small arms fire from and probably where Red Eye was held up when they heard Chief White's screams as he got hit with several rounds from the militants he was engaging.

"Miller!" Chuck says to his Corpsman.

"On it, sir." Said the Corpsman as he rushed back down to his wounded comrade to attend to him and to help stop the advancing insurgents from ground level.

It was now down to Chuck and Bryce and they still had two more apartments to clear that were adjacent to each other aswell as a whole other floor on the third floor. Chuck was covering Bryce as he breached one of the apartments, once more, deploying a flashbang. The sole militant inside began to blindly spray his assault rifle that he had in his hands, with one bullet catching Bryce in his vest who was forced to clear the room on his own as they were out of manpower.

"Fuck!" Bryce exclaimed. "Bryce! You hit?" Chuck as briefly glancing toward the direction of his XO.

"Got me in the vest, I'm good." He continued on out of the apartment and passed Chuck as they shifted over to the adjacent apartment opposite when they heard a sudden smashing of glass shortly followed by Master Chief Garcia on comms "Sir, Red Eye's just jumped out of the fucking window and landed on an adjacent roof and legged it! I'm pinned down and have no shot!"

Bryce and Chuck stopped behind cover and looked at each other.

"GOD DAMMIT!" Chuck exclaimed.

"Fucking pussy!" Bryce shouted.

* * *

Chuck had now just breached and cleared the final apartment on the second floor as Bryce was out of flashbangs and the two operators were ascending up to the third floor with Bryce taking point when he suddenly yelled "Grenade!" and turned and pushed his CO down the stairs, landing on top of Chuck to shield him from the blast.

The grenade exploded and ripped through the second stairwell and Bryce was seriously injured. Chuck suffered some injuries to the abdomen but Bryce had shielded a large portion of the blast however Chuck was extremely disorientated and was starting to black out. His whole body felt deadweight, he was unable to even move or regain composure, his mind was all fuzzy and his ears are ringing, he can't hear anything, he's reaching, in search of his weapon as militants were descending from the third floor but he can't find it.

Suddenly, three militants are on top of Chuck and his XO, they had dragged Bryce off of Chuck and he's seriously injured, he's laying on the floor, facing and looking at his best friend. Chuck is lip reading Bryce who is trying to speak through the pain "It was an honour to serve with you Commander." He manages to lip read, as a sudden burst of gunfire echo's through the air and he sees blood splatter from his best friend's face, his eyes now lifeless.

A second gunman is now on top of Chuck. Chuck begins to make his peace before the inevitable, he hears gunfire, he's waiting for the bullets to connect, he closes his eyes, waiting.

* * *

Suddenly, he's being grappled and Chuck opens his eyes, Second Class Miller is screaming at him to get up, but Chuck is still extremely disorientated, his ears ringing, he can't hear shit. Second Class Miller is trying to drag his CO into one of the apartments to shield him from the gunfire that was coming from the militants who were ascending up from the ground floor. Second Class Miller suddenly takes a rapid burst from an AK47 to his chest who falls to the floor. Continuing, he's trying to pull himself and his CO into the apartment, he manages to succeed.

* * *

Chuck is regaining his awareness now, he's trying to shake everything off, trying to get to his feet despite his wounds sustained from the grenade that has ripped through his abdomen. He can see out into the main hallway where his best friend is covered in blood. Chuck is on his feet now and picks up Second Class Miller's assault rifle. He pulls the SWO further into the apartment to shield him from the three advancing insurgents who were now on the second floor. Chuck breaks cover, as he fires off rounds in rapid succession, mowing them all down. Before returning into the apartment to attend to his Corpsman who is losing a lot of blood. He manages to patch up his Corpsman as best he can, as gunfire continues from the stairwell into the room they were currently holed up in.

He quickly picks up the rifle and breaks cover again, firing the weapon, but it wont fire, it's empty.

He turns to his Sig Saeur side arm as he exchanges fire with superior assault rifles that completely pin him down and stop him from doing anything.

Second Class Miller is screaming at Chuck to leave him, to jump out of the window onto an adjacent roof and save himself. Chuck is ignoring him, as he fires off round after round of his Sig Sauer before it's empty. He's now down to his knife, he waits, waiting for the first insurgent to appear. He sees the barrel of a gun, he's ready, the militant advances into view and Chuck strikes, killing the militant with his knife before grabbing the assault rifle out of his hands immediately breaking cover once more to mow down a further two insurgents however taking a bullet to the abdomen where his vest used to be until the grenade explosion in the process.

Suddenly, he hears American voices, "Rangers!" Comes the yell, as Chuck drops the AK47 to the floor as he collapses and blacks out.

* * *

 **Two Weeks Later**

 **Military Hospital**

 **Baghdad**

Chuck's eyes squinted and hurt as he woke on a hospital bed attached to all sorts of medical wires.

"Sleeping beauty has awoken!" Morgan jokes to a group of guys who had all gathered around where Chuck was recovering. Morgan and four other Operators from Gold Squadron plus two guys from Colonel Casey's detachment 1st SFOD-D as well as the Colonel himself were all sat around him.

"Darn fine job you did out there Bartowski" Casey says while feeling immense pride of his friends military achievements in battle.

"Bryce, John, Ray, James, Sean?" Chuck asks weakly, hoping that the rest of his guys had made it out of there with him as he doesn't remember anything from the battle.

"John is alive, barely, because of you buddy." Morgan replies with a great feeling of respect and honour, before continuing "He's in pretty bad shape, he's still in critical condition. Without you buddy those bastards would have ripped him to shreds."

"What about the others, they're okay, right?" Chuck asks while still struggling and trying to recall the assault he remembers being involved in.

"Master Chief took a bullet to his arm, Rangers tried to evac him but he personally carried you out of there buddy." Morgan tells his CO, before continuing in a sombre mood.

"Bryce, Ray and Sean are all KIA unfortunately buddy. I'm sorry, it's not your fault man you did all you could." said Morgan as he tried to console his Commanding Officer.

Seeing the shock on their CO's face, another operator offered his support. "Sir, you did all you could, they died as fighting men, as fucking heroes."

One of the Delta Force operators chimed in "They should never have sent you in. Fucking CIA man."

"Apache gunships engaged two further moving vehicles heading to the safe house. Good job the Rangers got there when they did, you were about to be seriously overrun." Said Casey.

"What about Red Eye?" Chuck asks.

"Bastard got away." Said one of Chuck's seamen.

"They're even recommending you for a Navy Cross, and Bryce." Said Morgan.

"I don't want a fucking medal!" Chuck suddenly snaps very aggressively as a Military Nurse appears.

"That's enough excitement for the young Commander in one day." She orders to the soldiers who had all gathered around to pay their respects to Chuck.

"You'll be out soon buddy, we'll see you soon yeah?" Morgan says as the soldiers all got up to leave.

Chuck didn't respond. He was now in his own world, he had closed off from everything as he began thinking about his best friend's now widow and his god daughter...

* * *

 **Arlington Military Cemetary**

Chuck rose from where he had been kneeling to pay his respects to his fallen friend.

Standing to attention, Chuck salutes his best friend before saying "I'll see you in another life brother."

As he turns, and walks off to find a taxi to take him to a local hotel...

End of Chapter.

 **A/N**

Chuck's military training words of wisdom actually come from Bravo Two Zero, one of my favorite ever movies, so props to that.

This scene was extremely hard to do. But this is how Chuck got his Navy Cross, by holding his position despite being seriously injured from the grenade blast and taking further rounds to protect his Corpsman who was seriously wounded but thankfully survived because of Chuck.

This was probably the biggest battle/scene I've had to write to date as this is the first military story I've done so hopefully it's not too bad. Let me know?

Also, what's your thoughts on Shaw's command decisions. He's a bit of a reckless cannon isn't he? More on that throughout the story ;)

 **Acronyms used in this chapter**

 **1st SFOD- D - Delta Force Army Special Forces**

 **SWO – Special Warfare Operator, a specific rating to SEAL's**

 **KIA – Killed In Action**

 **NCO- Non Commissioned Officer**


	8. Boy Scouts

**Chapter Eight**

 **Boy Scouts**

 **August 21st 2006**

 **Dam Neck Annex**

 **Virginia Beach**

 **Virginia**

 **United States**

It had been ten days since Chuck and Sarah both set eyes on each other again at that CIA briefing after being apart for more than six years. For Sarah, those ten days had gone by very slowly, as she couldn't get Chuck out of her mind. Ever since Sarah made the decision to leave Chuck because she couldn't bear the thought of him knowing she had killed somebody all those years ago he has always been in her mind. Sarah had even had to resort to drinking herself into a broken mess too many times to count over the years gone by just to cope with being without Chuck, which would always result in her crying herself to sleep. Over the years that have passed, Sarah often wondered how Chuck was getting on, what he was doing, if he is married, had children. But actually seeing Chuck again in person, as a Special Forces soldier of the all things he could have been, Sarah would never have guessed it playing out like this in a million years. Seeing Chuck again has brought out all sorts of thoughts and feelings for Sarah. If you had to ask Sarah if she still loved Chuck, she'd tell you with an immediate response that she has NEVER stopped loving him. You can't suddenly just go from loving somebody for four years, to suddenly stop caring about them. And if somebody tried to tell Sarah otherwise, she would call them a liar. All Sarah wanted to do was talk to Chuck again, to see what he's been doing in his life in all the years that had passed. But she absolutely didn't expect Chuck to want to talk to her, no matter what past history she had with him. Sarah is the one who broke up with Chuck, and ignored like one hundred phone call attempts from him in the aftermath before changing her phone number. So Sarah completely understands why Chuck behaved how he did at that briefing room, she knows that he owes her nothing. If Chuck would have done to Sarah what she did to him, she'd have done the exact same thing, or worse.

For Chuck however, the past ten days had been much easier, though that is in part due to the hectic responsibilities that his job entails. Chuck has been swamped under with inventory checks for the upcoming deployment in addition to training exercises consisting of close quarters combat tactics, hostage rescue, hours and hours on several of the weapon ranges that are set up in the base. There was even a weapons assault course with shooting targets that the teams use for competitions on who sets the fastest time. Lieutenant Commander Bartowski currently holds the record at 32.6 seconds on the course. Lieutenant Grimes following with 38.3 seconds with Master Chief Garcia rounding off the top three with 41.9 seconds. One hundred and two people have taken part in the course according to the log book.

Chuck had also tried once more unsuccessfully to try to get Sarah reassigned, with his father not so politely reminding him that he wasn't a baby any more and couldn't just get what he wanted, he told him he is a military commander and needs to start acting like one.

Chuck had found it pretty hard to sleep most nights though, as his mind drifted off into thoughts that he'd spent years trying to move away from. No amount of training in the world can help you when it comes to Sarah Walker, Chuck was absolutely sure of that. Sarah still held an enormous power over Chuck, but he wasn't going to allow her to use and humiliate him a second time over, he would sooner die...

Carina had tried to get her friend to open up more about Chuck, and to tell her what she is thinking and feeling, but as far as Sarah is concerned, what happened between Chuck and her is staying between them and nobody else. Carina had also tried to pick at Morgan to get him to tell her what he knew, and if Chuck had said anything to him about Sarah, but Morgan told her that Chuck had completely dismissed everything about her, and said she's not part of his life anymore, it's in the past, buried and staying there...

Today in particular was going to change all of that however, as Sarah was due to move onto Chuck's base to begin to liaise between the CIA, Navy Intelligence and Chuck's Special Forces team as part of a new initiative for increased inter Agency cooperation, Sarah would also be deploying with the team, so that she could provide the team with all of the intelligence that came into her possession via informants she controlled and other intelligence gathering methods. Ultimately, this would allow the teams to conduct more raids and hopefully bring in more results.

* * *

 **August 22nd**

 **Dam Neck Annex**

 **Virginia Beach**

 **Virginia**

 **United States**

Sarah had been attached to Chuck's base as CIA liaison for just over a day now and all of Chuck's troop loved Sarah. All the guys were all trying their best to out do the other one to impress Sarah and were like a bunch of school kids as they fell over Sarah's feet. Morgan had taken on the duty of being Sarah's personal tour guide though he had to fight with several other guys in his troop and had to end up pulling rank just to get the duty. Morgan had a reason for wanting this particular duty of course, as he wanted to know everything about her. Chuck hadn't told Morgan much about Sarah in all the years he had known him. In fact, Morgan can only think of Chuck speaking about how they broke up, and not much at all prior to that. So Morgan was very much interested in finding out more about the life of the only woman that had presumably been with his CO and best friend, as he'd never seen Chuck with any woman, and there had been many offers Morgan could assure you of that, certainly far more than Morgan get that's for sure, which he is quite jealous about...

Sarah was having a great time since arriving on the Special Forces base and thought that all the guys were great and she was quite proud to be in their company, as she knows and understands all of the sacrifices they make for their country as they lay their lives on the line to get the job done.

Morgan said he had a special surprise for Sarah today and here she was inside some sort of training facility. Sarah was seated on a chair in the middle of the room wearing earmuffs and was told to stay there and not move as she noticed all around her shooting target dummies. Suddenly, several bangs went off followed by Sarah becoming blind as she tried to realize what the hell was going on as gunfire began to echo all around her as she tried to regain her vision. As she began to regain her sight, she now had six elite operators all circled around her dressed in full tactical gear as Morgan took off his mask.

"Did you like it?" Morgan shouted, part because of the earmuffs and part because of the stun grenades just deployed knowing that Sarah would still be slightly disorientated.

Sarah was shocked, as all of the target dummies were ripped to shreds and there was like eight of them previously standing.

"Wow! Morgan that was great!" Sarah exclaimed as she was being helped to her feet by two frogmen who had removed the earmuffs from her.

"Holy heck you guys use live rounds?" Sarah asked as she suddenly noticed spent 7.62mm bullet casings.

"Yup, we train as if its the real thing." Morgan replies.

"Are there ever any accidents?"

"Yup, several guys have been grazed here, it's the hazards of the job." Morgan laughs.

"And are you always this precise?" She then asks as she looks around at the no longer standing dummies once more.

"Eh, we could do better." Morgan thinks aloud, before asking his small fire team "Right guys?"

"Oh yeah, absolutely." The five operators agree, still keen to show off to the attractive blonde.

"It's still early in the day, you should see us after lunch." One of the frogmen jokes.

Morgan and Sarah were now outside the training facility and Sarah was standing near to Morgan who had sent off his operators to do other tasking and leave Sarah in peace.

"What was that place?" Sarah asked, still amazed by the demonstration.

"That's where we conduct hostage rescue. There's other rooms inside the facility for all types of scenario's." Morgan replied to Sarah as he begins to answer further questions from a very interested Sarah...

x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Lieutenant Commander Bartowski was presently inside his quarters watching out of his window with a keen interest of his XO and members of his troop making a fool of themselves all to impress a woman. Sighing, he goes back to paperwork...

* * *

 **August 23rd**

 **Dam Neck Annex**

 **Virginia Beach**

 **Virginia**

 **United States**

Another day, and yet more training exercises for the elite operators of Gold Squadron, as they practiced close quarters combat extensively. Sarah had begun to liaise with Navy Intelligence officers, providing them with at least a dozen new terrorist cells previously unknown to Navy Intelligence that they had been extremely thankful of.

Morgan had called Sarah over to show her another one of their training drills and they had now just finished when Morgan and the guys began to play with their Night Vision Goggles to show off to Sarah who was laughing at their ridiculous antics when suddenly the CO came racing toward them.

"LT! A word!" Chuck suddenly says to his XO as he appeared outside of one of the training facilities.

"Excuse me a minute Sarah, I'll be right back." He says to Sarah as he turns, about to head in the direction of his CO before stopping to say something to his Senior Enlisted NCO Master Chief Garcia.

"Hey Master Chief, why don't you show Sarah some more drills." He says as he leaves Sarah in the company of his married Master Chief so the rest of the guys didn't eat her alive, though even the Master Chief himself kept falling over Sarah's feet and he's a married guy of twenty years.

Morgan quickly rushes over to see what his CO wanted.

"Sir?" Morgan says as he came within distance of his CO.

Chuck pulls his XO along outside of talking distance of his men and Sarah before continuing.

"What the fuck are you playing at? We're preparing to deploy into a hostile environment and you're running all over the base like a bunch of kids! You're Navy Seals not boy scouts!"

"Sir, we're just making her welcome that's all, extending out hospitality." Morgan tries to defend himself and the men in his unit.

"That's bullshit!" Chuck snaps, before rollicking his XO further.

"It stops now. You're being distracted from your tasking, she's a bad influence, fucking concentrate and focus on your job."

"Aye sir." Morgan says.

"Don't let me catch you doing that again." Chuck says as a final note as he turns to return to his quarters.

Morgan heads back in the direction of his troop who were showing Sarah another training exercise.

"Sorry, I guess I got you guys into trouble." Sarah says sincerely.

"Don't worry about it hon." Morgan assures her.

"He's just a bit pissed off at the moment." Master Chief Garcia says.

'Yes, because of me.' Sarah thinks to herself, as she watches Chuck walk back into his quarters.

* * *

Later That Evening

Sarah had just knocked on the door to the quarters of Lieutenant Commander Bartowski.

"Come in!" Chuck yells, still swamped under with paperwork.

"Commander, I was hoping to have a word, if that's ok?" Sarah asks from the doorway.

Chuck looks up from his paperwork to where Sarah was standing "Sure, what can I do for you Agent Walker?" He asks, inviting her to take a seat.

Sighing as Sarah sits on the opposite side of Chuck's desk, she looks at his face as his eyes shifted back to his paperwork and refused to make eye contact with her.

"I'm not so sure it's a good idea that I continue to be assigned to you guys." Sarah says, pausing as Chuck stops to glance at her before she continues. "So I just wanted to inform you that I think it's probably best I ask for a reassignment."

Pausing briefly to think, Chuck then responded, "It's probably for the best." He says as he nods his head in agreement.

"Will that be all Agent Walker?" He asks, waiting for her confirmation before returning to his paperwork.

"Yes, Commander." Says Sarah in response, as she departs to head for her temporary quarters that she has been accommodated in.

* * *

Sarah was now inside her quarters unwinding after a busy day as she picks up her phone to dial a number.

"Director Graham?" Sarah's boss says on the other end of the phone.

"Agent Walker here sir. Look, I'm not so sure that it's a good idea I continue on with this assignment, I was hoping that you could reassign somebody else, instead of me." Sarah asks her boss.

"Sarah, you're the best intelligence agent we have, we need you on this task force." The Director says in response.

"It's not going to work sir, I have to much personal history with the Commander, he hates me... Look, I really can't work here, I have a lot of leave that I have available, I'll even use all that up if I need to, but I can't work here." Sarah implores her Director.

"Sarah, I'm afraid that it's impossible, it's out of my hands I have no control over this. You will have to carry on." He retorts.

"Can I ask why sir?"

Sighing, the Director continues. "You were personally requested for on this task force."

"By who sir?" Sarah replies immediately.

Sighing once more, the Director continues. "Admiral Bartowski. You have yourself a good night Agent Walker." And with that, the Director ended the call.

Leaving Sarah's face to turn to shock, as her mind began to race with a million questions once more.

(Insert Jaws theme music here)


	9. Love Struck

_Just three main things to address so far that has been highlighted by reviews throughout the last few chapters:_

 _One thing about Morgan that I've already covered in the story and why he's not very hostile towards Sarah is that in the fourth chapter Morgan was angry as he realized who Sarah was, but when Sarah ran off crying, Morgan obviously sensed that there was more about Sarah than Chuck had obviously told him over the years. Chuck had made Sarah out to be a heartless monster that didn't care about him. But if she didn't care, why would she run off crying even six years later? Morgan isn't an idiot, he knows there's a reason for why Sarah actually left Chuck. And that's why he's being nice to her, because he seen just how fragile she was when he sent Carina into the rest room after her._

 _As for the rest of the guys in Gold Squadron, they have no idea who Sarah is to Chuck, I also addressed this in the second chapter. Only Bryce and Morgan knew/know who Sarah was/is to Chuck._

 _Finally, Chuck is a fighting man in this story. Though he is also still the Chuck from canon, if you look at his relationship with the children and the wives of his unit. Chuck is Chuck in different ways in this story, such as saving the dog from Chief Rodriguez, or protecting men under his command by putting his life on the line. As addressed in the second chapter, Chuck has to be outspoken in this story, because it's his job to create a camaraderie between his men and keep them in line and and more importantly, alive..._

* * *

 **Chapter Nine**

 **Love Struck**

 **August 24th**

 **Dam Neck Annex**

 **Virginia Beach**

 **Virginia**

 **United States**

It was now the morning after Sarah's unsuccessful attempts to be reassigned, and the big revelation that had accompanied it. Sarah hadn't slept very well at all as her mind couldn't understand why Chuck's dad would want Sarah anywhere near his son after how she had treated him six years previously, another unanswered question to add to the increasingly growing number, she thought to herself.

Today was a big day for Gold Squadron, as newly promoted Chief SWO John Miller was returning to duty four months after that fateful day that nearly lost him his life. There was a massive buzz going around the camp, as their comrade was welcomed back with open arms.

The entire Squadron were presently in the mess hall and the CO of the Squadron had just arrived to formally welcome back their brother in arms.

As Chuck arrived at the mess hall, he noticed Sarah still here, but he didn't have time to think about that, today was about something bigger than holding a grudge, today was about brotherhood.

Standing at the front of the hall, accompanied by his subordinates from the other two troops in the Squadron Lieutenant Commander Cooper and Williams, as well as Lieutenant Grimes who was the XO of Chuck's troop, Chuck paid special homage to Chief Miller.

"I would just like to speak on behalf of everybody here and I know I can count on you all agreeing with me on how great it is to have you back with us John, welcome home buddy!"

A sudden thunderous noise suddenly echoed around the mess hall as every single operator began banging on the tables in agreement with their CO accompanied with shouts of "Hear hear!" and other messages of support from all the operators of Gold Squadron.

Master Chief Garcia who was seated next to the newly promoted Chief began to talk to one of his best friends. "It's good to have you back you bastard." He says as shakes his hand to welcome back his brother in arms.

"Just couldn't bear to be without us buddy eh?" Chief Rodriguez chimed in who was sitting opposite Chief Miller.

"Nah, I was on my way out until they upped my pay grade, it's all about the dollar baby, all about the dollar." Chief Miller jokes as he chats away with his brothers.

The comrades all in the immediate vicinity began to laugh as they continued to offer their messages of support to the Chief returning to action.

The Master Chief put his arm around one of his best friends laughing, as the air was filled with an enormous sense of camaraderie between the elite operators of all the troops in Gold Squadron.

Continuing to address the men under his command, the CO continued "Today also marks the tenth day until we ship out. So make sure you begin to start tying up any last minute loose ends you have before we go kick some ass!" Chuck finishes in a yell to his men.

Once more, a thunderous noise is heard.

Chuck continues "Oh, our troop is also heading out tonight in celebration, you're welcome to come along and bring your wives, but keep them away from the Lieutenant!" He jokes as the room erupts with roars with laughter.

Morgan mocked a feint hurt expression, as he held his hand on his heart as if to say 'How could you.' to his CO.

Chuck continues once more "Oh, speaking of the LT, Lieutenant Grimes also thinks today will be his lucky day and that he will beat my record on the weapons course, though frankly, I think he's lost his marbles as that's never gonna happen." Once more, the hall fills with laughter. And with that, the CO left to resume about the tasks he had, leaving all the men under his command to resume chatting away to each other.

* * *

14:00 hours

At least thirty of the SEAL's of Gold Squadron had gathered at the weapons assault course that involves undertaking some movement manoeuvres, followed by engaging fifteen targets with a combination of assault rifle and sidearm gunfire.

There was a buzz around the place and the frogmen were taking bets with each other.

Sarah was standing near to Master Chief Garcia "Who's going to win?" She asked the Master Chief.

"Haha, nobody has ever came close to beating the Commander, many of us have tried, all have failed." Replies the Master Chief, as he thinks back to the last time he himself tried to oust his CO from holding the record.

"Is he that good?" Sarah asks, looking towards Chuck.

The Master Chief shakes his head before continuing. "Oh yes, just watch, you'll be amazed at how quick he moves, he's a natural. The Commander is the finest operator I've seen and I've been on the teams fifteen years, one tough bastard. You wouldn't want the Commander coming up against you, I'm just happy he's on my side." The Master Chief jokes to Sarah whose face had filled with a mixture of admiration and utter shock.

Meanwhile, at the head of the course Morgan was trying to put his CO off.

"Are you okay there Chuck? You're looking a bit scared over there, it's not too late to back out." Morgan jokes.

"What and pass up on the opportunity to take all their money?" Chuck jokes in response while looking around at the people who are foolishly betting against him before turning to look at his XO once more "Bring it." He says as he prepares to advance.

Meanwhile, all the frogmen who had gathered and were listening in to the two officers began to get extremely hyped up...

"Standby!" Comes the call from Chief Miller who had been given the honour of refereeing the competition.

"Ready!" He says once more as he fires a gun into the air beginning the competition as two other operators holding stop watches begin the countdown.

Chuck and Morgan immediately advance forward with their assault rifles, taking down targets in rapid succession as they perform their first manoeuvre over one of the obstacles.

Advancing further on, with Chuck already in a clear lead they continue to take out targets. Stopping to reload, they then advance even further taking out targets before they stop to crouch to expend the rest of the clip onto targets.

Dropping their assault rifles on the floor, they un-holster their personal sidearms and began to shoot at targets. Stopping to reload, they then perform a combat roll and continue to expend the magazine of their side arm on the final target, finishing the course.

Back at the start of the course, all of the operators were screaming away at what they were witnessing

"And the winner is!" Says Chief Miller, before pausing for a long moment to add hype to the competition.

"Commander Bartowski!" The Chief says finally after a few seconds before continuing again as he looks at the two stop watches that the operators were showing him. "Oh shit boys! He's set a new course record! 29.9 seconds!"

The operators all run to their CO to congratulate him, lifting him up in the air as the victor.

Once they had put their CO down, the loser of the competition comes up to Chuck. "I fall on my sword, sir." Morgan says, as he bends his head down to pay respect to the victor.

Chuck briefly turned to glance at Sarah, who was amazed at what she had just seen, he even gave her an ever so brief smile before he was about to give a victory speech when he was interrupted from doing that by a deeply hurt Morgan, who obviously wanted to extract some form of revenge on his CO as best he could.

"Hey Sarah, why don't you have a go with the Commander.?" Morgan shouts to Sarah as he looked between Sarah and Chuck, the latter giving him deathly stares.

Morgan began to laugh as all the frogmen who were still there began to get hyped once more, encouraging Sarah to take on their CO wanting to see what she had to offer.

"Well, shall we?" Chuck eventually ends up asking Sarah as all his men were clamouring to see it.

"Sure, why not." Sarah replies, as she moves to step forward to take up position on the course where Morgan had previously been.

This led to rapturous cheers from the operators who were gathered to watch the competition...

* * *

The Chief had now explained the rules of what Sarah had to do on the course, and had handed her one of the team's primary assault rifles that they now use, the FN Special Operations Forces Combat Assault Rifle or SCAR, for short. Sarah hadn't used this particular rifle before but she had a lot of experience in using Carbines at one of the many gun ranges that she's spent her excessively large amounts of free time that she has had throughout the last few years.

Sarah had also been issued with a Sig Sauer sidearm, this weapon she was familiar with and had used it many times, once more on one of the many gun ranges that she'd been on.

Chuck looked in Sarah's direction on the weapons assault course, who glanced back at him. "Good luck." He says to her.

"Thanks." Sarah replies as she turns her head back to look at the course infront of her.

Once more, the Chief goes through his routine.

"Standby!"

"Ready!" He says once more before proceeding to fire his gun in the air as the two former lovers now went head to head on the weapon's assault course.

Chuck and Sarah begin to advance and all the SEAL's who had gathered were all screaming their encouragement to Sarah, willing her on to beating their CO so they can take the piss out of him for an eternity.

Chuck had now turned to his sidearm, quickly followed by Sarah when he glanced over at Sarah and was pretty impressed with how she was handling herself, he didn't expect this in a million years.

They had now just reloaded their sidearms and performed a combat roll, which Sarah also did, which led to cheers from the SEAL's who were jumping around and screaming still encouraging her to oust their CO when the course ended.

Chuck and Sarah then returned back to the start of the course. Chuck once more looking at Sarah with a look of admiration on how she handled herself, especially with it being her first time on the course.

* * *

They were now at the location of Chief Miller and the two operators who had the stop watches when the Chief began to speak to the anxiously awaiting SEAL's.

"Commander Bartowski," the Chief said, which was met with boo's by the entire group of thirty plus that had gathered "34.7 seconds."

"Agent Walker," the Chief said, which was met by thunderous cheers "40.7 seconds."

"Booo! It's a fix!" The group all began to yell.

Chuck walked closer to Sarah "Well done." He said sincerely as he got within close proximity of her.

"Thanks, you too." Sarah replied, as Navy SEAL's all began to surround her.

Chief Miller was the first to speak "How did you learn to shoot like that you were amazing."

The operators all suddenly stopped talking to listen to her response, even Chuck paid particular interest to the answer of this question.

"Well, a whole lot of free time and a lot of hours at a gun range." Sarah replied to the Chief while looking into the eyes of Chuck as she spoke.

"Commander, are you ok sir? You look a bit love struck." Chief Rodriguez jokes as Chuck had been glancing at Sarah for a short while.

"Dude, wouldn't you be, Agent Walker is like the female equivalent of him!" One SEAL says.

"Commander spends his life at a gun range also." Another jokes.

"Hey Sarah have you ever thought about a different career? You'd be more than welcome here." One of the SEAL's says, followed by most of the operators agreeing with their comrade who shouted that.

"Hey that means Sarah now holds third place on the course!" Chief Miller just realized as he was looking at the log book of all people who had taken part on the course.

All of the SEAL's once more began to laugh that caused a pretty deafening noise as one frogman suddenly shouted, "You're getting too old Master Chief!"

"Who the fuck said that!" The Master Chief demanded as he scans around trying to find the culprit so he could kick the living daylights out of him.

It turned out the culprit was Morgan which caused both Sarah and Chuck to laugh as they were still glancing at each other.

* * *

Next Chapter: The team all go out to dinner to celebrate Chief Miller's homecoming, and Sarah is invited along.

And more!


	10. He Still Loves You

A/N I'm going out on a limb here and I'm publishing this chapter super fast because it's ready fast. Which means several things: most notably is that my story wont show up as updated on the main Chuck fiction page, as it only shows up once every 24 hours, so I will probably get far less views for this Chapter, so I'm trusting in the followers of this story who get email confirmation to help me out by leaving feedback on what they think.

Marking the Tenth Chapter, I would just like to pay special thanks to all of the regular reviewers, and I hope that you continue to enjoy the ride throughout the coming weeks as we work to try and get Charah back on good terms. And stop some bad guys ooh rah!

* * *

 **Chapter Ten**

 **He Still Loves You**

 **August 24th**

 **Virginia Beach**

 **Virginia**

 **United States**

 **19:00 hours**

Chuck, Sarah, Morgan and a massive group of twenty had just arrived at a large bar & grill restaurant that the troop use fairly often for gatherings and had booked a week in advance. The men of the group were all off duty and dressed in civilian clothing. Chuck's troop came to this place a lot as big groups, and it's probably safe to say that they are the restaurants biggest customers.

Chief Miller and his wife Sophie were here in attendance, as was Master Chief Garcia and his spouse of twenty years Jane Garcia. Chief Rodriguez and his long term partner Rebecca were also in attendance and more.

Morgan, Chief Miller and Master Chief Garcia had all begged Sarah to come along, seeing as though she was deploying with them, they wanted her to get to know a significant portion of their troop better.

Sarah was wearing her favourite leather jacket, a black shirt underneath and pants. While Chuck was just wearing a navy blue dress shirt and pants.

Once more, Chuck held no feeling of malice or a holding of a grudge towards Sarah tonight as it wasn't about him or Sarah. Tonight was about friendship and if his team wanted her to come along he had no issues with that. One thing Chuck was thankful of was that he didn't have to sit next to Sarah, or that would have been pretty awkward. The feeling of that was mutual as Sarah felt the same, though they were almost seated facing each other, which was almost as bad and they had already glanced at each other several times rather awkwardly since arriving.

The team were now ordering food and the next few minutes passed by without significant incident until now, as it was Sarah's turn to order, and what happened next, nobody in the room would have guessed...

"What will you be ordering ma'am?" The waiter had asked Sarah.

Sarah taking her eye out of the menu began to order.

"Vegetarian pizza, no..." Sarah was unable to finish her order.

"olives." Chuck finished for Sarah, while still glancing at the menu while he was waiting to order.

This caused most of the group sitting near to the former lovers to all turn and look in the direction of Chuck including Sarah, visibly shocked.

"Woah, how did you know that Commander?" the Master Chief asked his CO.

"Huh?" Said Chuck, not realizing his blunder for a brief moment before he realized what he had just done "Oh, calculated guess." He said as he laughed to try and cover up his blunder, before glancing at Sarah who was still looking at Chuck pretty shocked that he still remembered that particular thing about her after all the years that have passed.

"This man is a genius." Chief Miller exclaimed as he too had heard his CO.

Jane Garcia was paying particular attention to how the young Commander and the attractive blonde were behaving around each other.

* * *

The big group had now finished with their meals and were all engaged in multiple conversations. Sarah had been introduced to everybody at the table, as she is the only one to have not been involved with the group before.

Suddenly, the CO stood up and began to ask for the attention of the group as they all stopped talking to listen to the CO.

Chuck began to speak "Firstly, I'd just like to say how great it is to have you back here with us John. We have all missed you the past four months and I would also especially like to pay special mention to Sophie, who has been extremely brave and resilient in the absence of her husband while the lazy sod was recovering in hospital!" He finishes jokingly as he then shakes the hand of his great friend John.

The entire group roared in agreement with Chuck.

"Sophie has also informed me that she wants to convey a few words of thanks, so I now pass the stage over to Mrs Miller." Chuck finishes, as he begins to then applaud the Chief's wife, followed by the group hastily joining in the applause.

Sophie Miller then begins to speak. "Thank you Commander, firstly, I would just like to offer my thanks to the Commander himself, who without him, I don't know how me and my two young boys would have got by these last few difficult months. He's been a real sweetheart." She pauses, as tears begin to fill her eyes "And I just wanted to thank you from the bottom of my heart Chuck. What you did for my John, me and my boys will never forget. We owe you our lives." She says emotionally.

Chuck is trying his best to shrug off Sophie's praise as nothing.

"Stop doing that to yourself Chuck." Sophie orders him. "You should be proud of what you did for my John." She says, with the group roaring in agreement with the Chief's wife, before she finishes "I would like you all to please raise your glasses, to the Commander." Sophie finishes, as she raises her glass in the air to pay homage to the CO.

"The Commander." Everybody says as they stand to raise their glasses to toast.

"I know John would like to say a few words of thanks, so I will now pass you over to him."

"Speech, speech, speech!" Morgan suddenly starts to chant, followed by everybody else joining in the chanting.

John then stands up, thanking his wife before continuing "I don't know where to begin." The Chief jokes followed by laughter.

"Firstly I'd just like to thank Jane, Rebecca and all the other wives and girlfriends of the guys in my troop. I'll never forget the friendship that you showed my wife and my two beautiful sons. And to every one of you guys, and all the other guys from Gold Squadron who were there for my family while I was away, thanks." He says sincerely before continuing "And now, to the man whom I owe my life to," The Chief pauses, choking back emotions as he thinks what he wants to say. "I remember telling him to leave me and the stubborn bastard wouldn't." The Chief pauses to laugh, followed by everybody at the table joining in.

"I'm sorry I didn't!" Chuck says during the mid group laughter.

"I'm bloody glad you didn't!" John retorts as the group laugh once more, before continuing, "I'm finding it hard to put into words how I feel, so I will keep it short, to the bravest man I know, to Chuck Norris." Chief Miller finishes as he raises his glass in the air.

"To Chuck Norris." The group laugh as they raise their glasses in the air once more.

Chuck rounded off the speech with a final message as he stood up once more. "To our fallen friends who didn't make it home. To Bryce, Ray and Sean." Chuck says as he raises his glass in the air.

"To Bryce, Ray and Sean." The group all follow up.

* * *

Roughly twenty minutes later

Chuck was now at the bar chatting away with Morgan, the Master Chief, Chief Miller and a couple other guys from his troop and Sarah was at the table of the group. Sarah was pretty zoned out as she was glancing in the direction of Chuck, who would occasionally meet her gaze briefly.

"Old flame?" Jane Garcia suddenly asked Sarah, who snapped out of her gaze on Chuck to look at the Master Chief's wife.

"Is it that obvious?" Sarah asked laughing.

"Only to me, I've been married for twenty years hon." The much older experienced lady replied.

"We ended pretty sour." Sarah replies, as she shifted her gaze back to Chuck once more, who was now looking right back at her.

"There's still something there." the experienced lady continued "I've never seen the CO look at another woman the way I've seen him look at you tonight."

Sarah had now turned her gaze from Chuck to look back at the much older woman who continued.

"If I had to bet, I'd say he still loves you." Jane says to the much younger woman.

"I crushed him." Sarah admits dejectedly.

Jane rubs the shoulder of Sarah comfortingly. "Nobody is perfect in life darling, we all make mistakes. God knows, I've made many of my own, but I still love my husband, and he loves me."

Sarah's heart strings begin to pull as the much older ladies words begin to have an impact on her as she drifted off into thoughts again as she gazed into the eyes of the man standing at the other end of the restaurant looking back at her.

The rest of the night was pretty uneventful, as the group stayed in the restaurant sharing each others company until departing roughly after 23:00 hours.

* * *

 **August 25th**

 **Dam Neck Annex**

 **Virginia Beach**

 **Virginia**

 **United States**

It was now the morning after Chief Miller's homecoming, as activities returned to normal on the base of the elite DEVGRU squadron, as they continued to prepare to deploy on counter insurgency operations in the Middle East.

Chuck as the squadron's CO had an incredible amount of paperwork to catch up on. When Chuck is deployed he doesn't get much chance to do it, so it builds up into a huge pile when he's back on base. Coupled with his responsibilities of leading the Squadron, Chuck's secondary responsibilities are that of troop leader, and he also has team exercises he needs to oversee, and training, training and more training.

Chuck was presently in his quarters working through his paperwork when he noticed a pretty big fracas ongoing between at least ten guys of his troop. Quickly getting to his feet, he runs outside and towards the facility where the loud discussion was ongoing.

"What the fuck's going on here!" Chuck yells as he gets within distance of his men as Chuck and his experienced NCO Master Chief Garcia begin to start pulling the angry Sailors apart from each other.

Having not had an answer from any of his men who were busy tearing at each others throats, he asks once more in an almighty roar.

"I SAID WHAT THE FUCK'S GOING ON HERE?"

"Training fuck up sir." One of his men finally replied.

"Third Class Perez grazed Second Class Walker." The experienced Master Chief informed his CO.

Chuck grabbed hold of both the instigators and threw them in the direction of his quarters.

"LT, on me." Chuck calls for his LT to follow him and the two frogmen about to be reprimanded by their CO.

Chuck, Morgan, Second Class Walker and Third Class Perez had all arrived in Chuck's quarters.

"Sit." Chuck commands, as he throws the two operators onto waiting seats before proceeding to reprimand them.

"If I ever see that again, you're out!" Chuck yells down the throats of the two frogmen.

"I will NOT lose another man under my command, especially not because somebody forgets to watch somebody else's back because you're fucking holding a grudge against him!" He yells at both of them.

Pausing to try to regain his calm levels, which was unsuccessful, Chuck continues,

"For the next 7 days you're going to be running, together, 10 miles full gear each day and you better believe it's going to involve a whole lot of added rocks, because I'm going to be putting them in my self!"

Not done yet, the CO continued, "And when you're done running, you're going to be fucking cleaning the base, and if its not spotless, you're going to be running some more! DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR?"

"Sir, that's a bit harsh it's the first time they've fucked up." Morgan tries to defend the two troop members.

Chuck points his hand at his XO warning him not to say another word.

"Now get out!" He says to the two frogmen he just reprimanded.

Morgan was about to leave with Walker and Perez when Chuck called his XO.

"LT, a word."

Shutting the door after the two frogman who had exited Morgan turns to his CO.

"Take a seat." Chuck says as he tells his XO to take a seat at the other side of his desk.

Waiting until his XO sits Chuck continues "Don't ever undermine my authority like that again." Chuck warns to his XO.

"I'm sorry sir, it's just..." Morgan paused as he let out a deep sigh. "It's the first time they fucked up sir."

"If we don't come down on them, and we're in the middle of fucking Baghdad or on the Afghan border and we get engaged and they aren't willing to run through hell for each other we're fucking finished." Says Chuck.

"We can't tolerate in house fighting Morgan, it will destroy us."

"They were just a bit pissed off sir, it's nothing more than that."

The two best friends continue on with this heated discussion for the next few minutes...

* * *

"Commander, can I speak to you off the record, as your best friend?"

"Very well"

"Okay, hear me out before you dismiss it," He pauses "I think you're letting your emotions with Sarah cloud your judgement. Ever since she's arrived on base you've changed man, maybe just hear her out, listen to what she has to say, surely you owe her that much."

"I owe her nothing!" Chuck suddenly snaps on being told he owes the woman that left him and broke his heart something.

"As your best friend, and your XO, I think you're wrong sir ok, I just think you're wrong."

"That will be all Lieutenant." Says Chuck, unwilling to talk any further.

"Aye sir." and with that, Morgan got up to leave.

* * *

As Morgan left his CO's quarters he began to head towards his troop. Pausing to sigh, he spoke to himself. "If Chuck wont do it," pausing to sigh once more, he continues, "then I'll have to."

* * *

Later that evening

Quarters of Lieutenant Grimes

"Admiral sir, I know we both care about Chuck and love him and this is why I'm doing this."

"Go on son?" The Admiral said on the other end of the transmission.

Morgan sighs, before continuing, "I believe Chuck is holding a personal grudge against Agent Walker and I believe it's impacting his decisions. It's certainly impacting his professional relationship with her and he's not been the same since she arrived on base."

Sighing on the other end of the transmission, the Admiral agrees. "Leave it to me son, and thank you." The Admiral says to the junior officer.

"Aye sir." Replies Morgan.

And with that, the Admiral ended the transmission. Leaving Morgan to pray he has done the right thing

* * *

A/N- It must have took a lot of courage for Morgan to do that.

The next chapter is going to be HUGE, as we finally find out just what happened six years ago.


	11. My Sarah

_A/N Guys I'm sorry I think I unintentionally lied. The early parts to this chapter ended becoming so much longer than I expected it to be, so I've had to split it. More at the end so I don't give anything away._

* * *

 **Chapter Eleven**

 **My Sarah**

 **20:00 hours**

 **August 25th**

 **Dam Neck Annex**

 **Virginia Beach**

 **Virginia**

 **United States**

Chuck was getting ready to turn in his duties for the night when he received a transmission request from his father, they had been in discussion for several minutes now about military matters and the young Commander received further orders from his father informing him that his troop would be acting as a rapid reaction force onboard his father's Aircraft Carrier for two weeks while Red Squadron were stood down for some R&R state side before joining up with the rest of Gold Squadron who would deploy straight away to their final destination in Baghdad.

The Admiral was now speaking to his son about events that had occurred earlier in the day.

Chuck could only shake his head as he began to rage at his XO and best friend's betrayal "This is Morgan isn't it! I'll fucking kill him!" Chuck fumed.

"Son, go easy on him, it must have been hard for him, he loves you as if he were your brother."

"He had no business to do what he did!"

"You're wrong Commander. You cant deploy into combat until you've got your affairs in order, you're all over the place son." The Admiral paused, before proceeding to implore his son to see reason. "I want you to clear the air with Sarah Chuck, just hear her out okay? Surely now you can see that there was a reason outside of your control for why she actually left you, and not the one she gave you at the time, which if being frank, was a load of bullshit."

Chuck was still looking uneasy on the subject and sensing that, his father pressed on once more, "I can give you it in the form of an order if that's what you want me to do Chuck. But I would prefer that we do this father to son. Clear the air with her, you can't live in the past all your life holding a grudge, you need to move on from it son."

Sighing, knowing deep down that his father was right, Chuck continued the conversation "Dad, look, you're right, okay I get it. But I don't have much to say to her. Am I supposed to just forget all of what she said and pick up from six years ago and pretend that we're happy families again because she's back in town and suddenly wants to talk to me again?"

"Nobody is expecting that of you son. But you need to lose the grudge, you need closure once and for all. You're a United States Navy Commander now, you have responsibilities, you're not just a man who got his heart broken anymore."

"aye sir."

"Oh, one more thing before I go, call your mother she misses you. Love you son."

"You too dad." And with that, the Admiral ended the transmission, leaving Chuck to lean back in his chair taking a deep sigh as he planned his next move.

* * *

 **August 26th**

 **Dam Neck Annex**

 **Virginia Beach**

 **Virginia**

 **United States**

It was now the morning after the Admiral's intervention, which seems to have happened several times already, which was quite worrying for Chuck, as his mind began to come to conclusions.

As Chuck entered the mess hall, there was only about two dozen people left on base, most of the Squadron had turned in for the weekend and were back in their family homes with their families, unfortunately for Chuck, he had no family, so here he was. He noticed Sarah and sighing, as he still felt uneasy in regards to her, he walked over to her.

"Good morning." he said, as he arrived within distance of his former lover.

"Good morning Commander." Sarah couldn't help but say while beaming a bright smile, as that's how she feels whenever she sees his face, which made Chuck feel even more uneasy, as everything she does reminds him of the past life that the lovers shared for four years before she tarnished it all with a few simple words.

Still feeling extremely awkward in regards to talking to his former lover that he hadn't seen for six years and the manner in which they split up, the Commander pauses, as he leans forward onto the table, just in front of her, which caused Sarah to do a double take and become extremely anxious herself.

Sighing, Chuck opened his mouth to talk "Sarah," He says pausing, as it's the first time he's called her by her name since they have been reunited with each other.

Hearing Chuck call her by her name caused Sarah to lose her breath as lumps began to form in her throat. Oh how she's missed hearing him call her name, this feels like heaven to her, she gazes longingly into his eyes forgetting about everything as he continues to talk to her.

"there's no easy way to go about starting this," He says, pausing before continuing "so here goes; Do you think we could like, maybe you know, talk?" Chuck manages to complete very jittery, which is stupid as he's a Navy Seal. He has been through eighteen months of incredibly challenging mental and physical torture, has been involved in major conflicts, killed people, watched friends die, engaged in hand to hand combat, but he's never felt as exposed and as nervous as he is feeling right now, except one other time, but more on that later...

And here it is, the first bit of hope that Sarah has had since she set eyes on him again two weeks ago.

"I'd like that Chuck." Sarah replies as she emits a huge smile once more that could ALMOST melt all of Chuck's walls that he has between himself and his former lover. Sarah invites Chuck to take a seat.

Chuck looks around the mess hall briefly, seeing men under his command all glancing at their CO. And unwilling to let anybody else except Sarah and himself be privy to what they have to say, he quickly dismisses her invitation, "Noo, not here, how about in my quarters, when you're free, if that's okay?"

"I'm free now." Sarah replies instantly, having not taken her eyes off him once since he came up to her.

"Okay great, shall we say thirty minutes?"

"Sure." Sarah shoots back in response.

* * *

Thirty minutes later

Sarah was outside the door of Chuck's quarters, she'd spent the last few minutes trying to build herself up to knocking. Sarah's stomach is turning, she has butterflies and she feels sick. Her former lover, not by a coincidence, was doing and feeling the exact same things on the other side of the door, as he paced around his office trying to find composure, unsuccessfully.

Sighing as Sarah tries to shake off all of her nerves, she knocks on the door to her former lover.

"Come in." She hears Chuck say, in a much softer tone than the one he had used days previously.

Sarah opens the door, as a sudden feeling of anxiety once more takes hold of her. "Hi" is all Sarah can say, she can't think of anything to say, what can you say to start a conversation with somebody you broke up with six years ago?

Though in her defence, neither can Chuck "Hi" he replies back to her, as they look into each others eyes quickly becoming lost once more for probably the millionth time this action has been performed since they first met ten years ago.

"Take a seat?" Chuck says eventually, as he is forced to snap out of his gaze before he does or says something he regrets as he nervously also takes a seat. They are both seated now, still looking into the eyes of one another for at least half a minute before they awkwardly both go to speak at the same time.

"You go first." Sarah quickly replies, not wanting to start the first proper conversation they've had in six years, the last time she tried that outside the CIA briefing room, it didn't go well...

Chuck laughs briefly, still feeling incredibly anxious "Gee, thanks." He manages to joke, followed by a giggle from Sarah.

"Ok, look," He starts, thinking what he wants to say, "I just want to apologize for my abrupt nature the past few weeks. I've let my personal feelings come between our professional relationship and for that I apologize. You have been sent here to liaise with my team, and If I spend the entirety of your time with us holding a grudge against you, it's not going to work, and I'm going to dismiss all your input, which could cost lives, and that's not a sacrifice I'm prepared to make, so for that, I'm sorry." He manages to get out all in one breath as he now begins to gasp desperately for air.

"Chuck, you don't need to apologize. It can't have been easy for you to find out that I work for the CIA like that."

"No, it wasn't." Chuck admits rather sharply.

Sarah immediately began to mope and hang her head in shame for a brief moment before looking back up at him with puppy eyes knowing she'd done something wrong which almost causes Chuck to choke, he hadn't seen that look in a long time...

"It wasn't easy for me to find out you're a Navy Seal either." Sarah eventually says softly.

"True, I guess we both got a little more than we bargained for there huh." Chuck says with a slight chuckle.

"Absolutely." Replies Sarah, to which Chuck says "heh." in response.

"Can I ask you a question Chuck?" Sarah asks sweetly.

"Sure." He says nodding his head in response while the two former lovers continued to gaze at each other.

"I thought you hated the Navy?"

Chuck sighed on hearing Sarah's question. There was absolutely no way he was going to expose himself too much to her, this is the woman who crushed and stamped on his heart after all, but he actually felt a bit better in himself for this so far, so divulging a little bit wouldn't hurt too much, if it means he can finally close this chapter in his life and move forward.

"Sarah," Chuck says before pausing to think briefly. "I'm not going to lie to you, what you did and said to me that day, and how you behaved in the weeks after, not returning any of my calls, it crushed me..." Chuck stops, wanting to add more but his defence mechanisms kick in to stop himself showing his vulnerable state.

Chuck still looking into Sarah's eyes as they hadn't took their gaze from one another since they both sat down noticed that Sarah's eyes were becoming watery, and quite frankly, Chuck melted a little inside seeing her like this. Chuck can't ever recall Sarah crying in front of him in all the years he had known her except maybe two or three occasions. Chuck recalls being with Sarah being at the fairground one day, and he recalls there bring a brief outburst but other than that and one or two more times, he's never seen her this emotional.

"I'm so sorry Chuck." Sarah says emotionally before wiping her eyes with her hand before continuing, "This was never supposed to happen, I did it to protect you. I didn't want you anywhere near the CIA, or me, after the things I'd already done for them."

Chuck began to tense up inside, he simply couldn't accept that. If Sarah truly thought anything of him, she would have consulted him, and involved him in the discussion, he had a right to an opinion, she took that away from him and made the decision for him.

"Sarah, tell yourself that if it makes you feel better, we was together for four years, we lived together for two years and you didn't even include me in your decision, you made my mind up for me, what you did was selfish." Chuck says rather harshly, he could see Sarah was in a terrible state right now, and he'd never seen her like this in her entire life but is she honestly trying to tell him that cutting him out of the equation and making a life changing decision for him was anything other than an act of selfishness?

"Chuck, I don't know what to say, I'm so sorry." Sarah replied as she wiped as she wiped her eyes and sniffled her nose.

Sighing to himself, Chuck knew that there was no point dwelling on past mistakes and they needed to try to move forward if they were going to continue to work together.

"Sarah, I don't think I can ever forgive you for what you did to me. If you truly loved me, you would have let me make my own decision, I would have stayed by your side until the day I died regardless of who you were, or what career you had, the love I had for you was so much deeper than some petty small time things like that..." Chuck's rant and ramble was interrupted by Sarah, "I killed a man Chuck." Sarah said as she began to sob.

Chuck tensed up once more. How can you respond to that? Chuck entered into a state of shock. His Sarah could never hurt another human being, she couldn't even kill an insect...

Chuck really didn't know what to say or how to respond to his former lover... "Sarah, I don't know what you want me to say…." Was all Chuck that could manage, as he was shell-shocked.

"Tell me you hate me, anything, I deserve it." Sarah said emotionally to her former lover.

"Sarah… I could never hate you, I don't even know how I feel any more. I don't even know who I am any more. Do you want to know how many people I've killed? I couldn't even tell you, I have lost count..."

The two former soulmates continued to look into each others eyes once more and see nothing but pain and suffering while they are both oblivious to the fact that even if they can't see it themselves, they need each other, more than anything. Without each other, they're just a shallow existence of what they used to be...

To be continued…

 _Next chapter continues on, and could even be a three parter._


	12. New Beginnings

Previously: "Tell me you hate me, anything. I deserve it"

"Sarah…. I could never hate you. I don't even know how I feel anymore. I don't even know who I am anymore. Do you want to know how many people I've killed? I couldn't even tell you, I have lost count..."

The two former soul mates look into each others eyes once more and see nothing but pain and suffering while they are both oblivious to the fact that even if they can't see it themselves, they need each other, more than anything. Without each other, they're just a shallow existence of what they used to be.

* * *

 **Chapter Twelve**

 **New Beginnings**

The mood inside Chuck's quarters right now was extremely sombre and Sarah was behaving very emotionally. Chuck doesn't know what has happened to Sarah the past six years since he'd seen her last but he can sense that she has become very unstable, and knew he had to tread very carefully with what he says to her. No matter how much Sarah had hurt Chuck, he doesn't want to see his ex girlfriend upset. Chuck doesn't say things just to provoke a reaction out of somebody, that is just cruel, so he calmed the tension as best he could, for fear of Sarah exploding any further than she already had because he doesn't know the extent of just how emotionally unstable Sarah may be.

Chuck didn't know what to do, he couldn't just run up to her and hug her, that would be madness. And he didn't want to patronize her by telling her everything was okay either, as he didn't want to give her a sense of false hope.

Immediately after Chuck's revelation, Sarah had tried to blame herself and to tell Chuck that it was all her fault for everything that Chuck had done the last few years, but he told her that's not true, it was his decision to join the Navy, not hers.

This is of course a different tune to the one he was singing two weeks ago inside the briefing room, when he blamed her for everything he had done the past few years but sometimes you say things you don't mean when you are angry. Chuck doesn't blame Sarah for anything he's done since he joined the Navy, but that doesn't mean he can forgive her for what she did to him in the past either, so they needed to find a mutual ground somewhere. Something that they can work on that can help build their professional relationship, hence the idea Chuck was about to suggest, though he is already feeling like he will regret it, but here goes...

"Sarah, would you like to go out tonight, just us two, see if we can move forward and try to bury everything that happened in our past, so we can try to start fresh and work together professionally."

Chuck noticed Sarah immediately lift her head up and her demeanour seemed to change into something of hope.

"Wait no, it's probably a bad idea." Chuck immediately changed his mind as he started to second guess himself.

"Chuck, I'd love to." Says Sarah as her negative energy turned into that of hope.

"I'm not so sure it's a good idea." Chuck says panickingly, as he realized he had let Sarah back in and he was putting up his walls again.

"Chuck, please?" Sarah said as she looked at him with those puppy eyes, 'Oh god those eyes..' Chuck couldn't ever resist anything Sarah had asked of him when they were together when she looked at him with those eyes, and he still can't now no matter how much she had destroyed him.

"Very well... Tonight at 8?" Was all that Chuck could say, as he knew he had slipped up and it was already too late.

Sarah suddenly beamed a bright smile at him, as her mood perked up entirely from sadness to happiness.

"Thank you Chuck." Sarah says sincerely as she gazed radiantly into his eyes. "I should probably go." Sarah says, as her mind begins to race with thoughts. Sarah had so much to do before meeting Chuck later tonight.

Chuck sharply agrees, before he says or does anything else he regrets as he then stands up and walks Sarah to the door, opening it for his ex as he then watches her walk away with a spring in her step.

Sighing deeply to himself, he goes back to his chair berating himself for the mistake he had made...

* * *

Later that afternoon

Sarah was busy getting ready for her rendezvous with Chuck when her phone began to ring...

Sarah had now been in conversation with Carina for several minutes.

"I'm heading out with Morgan tonight, want to come along?" Carina asked her friend over the phone conversation.

"Actually, I'm going somewhere with Chuck." Sarah said with a smile to herself before realizing what she had just did. 'Oh fuck.' Sarah said to herself.

Sarah could hear the change in voice of her friend. "Oh?" Comes the response.

"I've already said to much Carina, its none of your business. I have to go. Bye." Sarah says as she puts the phone down on her friend sighing before going back to continuing to get ready.

Meanwhile... Roughly thirty minutes later

"Chuck, I don't know how to start this man, so here goes, I'm sorry. I betrayed you, I know that."

Chuck shrugs it off "Don't worry about it Morgan. You were right man. I can't live in the past holding a grudge my entire life. I actually feel a lot better. Though I fucked up buddy, I think I accidentally asked Sarah out on a date, and that's not what I intended, I don't want to give her false hope that everything is suddenly ok again."

"Just tell her that bud, I'm sure even Sarah herself doesn't expect you to just forgive her for walking out of your life."

"So uh, where are you heading?"

* * *

Later that evening

19:55 hours

Chuck had just arrived outside of Sarah's temporary quarters. He pulled up outside, taking a few minutes before exiting his vehicle to knock on the quarters of Sarah.

"Just a minute." Sarah had called as Chuck knocked on the door.

Sarah appears moments later and Chuck stops dead in his tracks. 'This was such a bad idea.' He tells himself, as he can't help but glance and admire his ex girlfriend for an indefinite period of time, who is looking more beautiful than Chuck had ever seen her in his life. She was wearing a salmon coloured dress that Chuck had never seen before, Chuck couldn't stop his mind from the thoughts he was having about his ex right now, he didn't even attempt to, as his brain had stopped functioning and turned to mush.

Sarah, the culprit of Chuck's thoughts was doing the exact same thing to him. His hair had grown a bit longer since she first seen him again at the CIA briefing, and she seen a forming of some curls that had begun to form again, which she loved. Sarah was waiting for Chuck to lean in and kiss her, as it didn't even register that they weren't together any more as she still loved this man unconditionally and always would until the day that she died, and the way that Chuck was looking at her, she was expecting him to do that any moment, as she stood, looking at him waiting expectantly.

Thankfully, as neither of them intended to talk any time soon, though rather awkwardly, the pair were interrupted by wolf whistles.

"Commander's got a date!" One frogman says as a group of three walk past their CO.

"Oh crap, I think we're going to be the talk of base for the foreseeable future." Is all Chuck can say.

Sarah laughs, still waiting...

Shrugging off the intrusion from three of his men, Chuck snaps out of his thoughts, and tries to not look at Sarah too much again.

"You ready?" He asks.

"Yeah..." Is all Sarah can say, while attempting to meet eye contact with Chuck again unsuccessfully.

Chuck opens the door to his car for Sarah, and once they are both inside, Sarah asks where they are heading.

"One of my favorite restaurants, you will love it." He says as he fires up the engine to his vehicle.

'I like anything as long as I'm with you.' Sarah thinks to herself.

* * *

25 minutes later

Chuck and Sarah had now just been seated at the restaurant, and they were paused, looking into each others eyes in what can only be described as an extremely romantic gesture, as if they were still a couple before Chuck awkwardly snaps out of the gaze, leaving Sarah to mope her head.

"Sarah, you look amazing tonight by the way." Chuck says, as he tries to avoid anything too intimate as he realizes that this is actually a date and not a professional encounter so he would sooner pay Sarah a compliment than engage in eye contact with his former lover.

"I didn't think you still cared." Sarah says a little harshly as she thinks to everything that had happened between them the past couple of weeks.

"Sarah, my feelings were never in question." Chuck replies as harshly.

"Sorry. I guess I deserve that." Sarah says as she mopes her head in deep shame.

Chuck sighs deeply to himself remembering why he had asked her here in the first place, so they could try to move on professionally, he wanted to lose the grudge tonight once and for all.

Taking hold of her hand, though regretting that action immediately, he continues "Sarah, I'm sorry, okay. I'm just finding it hard still. You don't deserve this. It has been six years. I need to move on and act my age, you had every right to break up with me if that's what you wanted." Chuck's ramble was interrupted by Sarah.

"Chuck, it's not what I wanted..." Sarah says in response as she moved to put her free hand onto Chuck's that was now holding onto hers.

Chuck paused immediately when Sarah put her free hand on top of his, a million thoughts now began racing through his mind as he allowed himself to enter into a compromised state of mind as the former soulmates, though you would be forgiven if you removed the former begin to gaze into the eyes of each other once more as Sarah smiled affectionately at him as she looked at him.

Sarah then began to lean her head towards Chuck, with their hands still connected together and he had not moved or snapped out of the gaze when suddenly, his face turned to shock as he began untangling his hand from hers in the process, as he moved his head to now sit back in his chair "I don't believe it." Chuck suddenly says exasperated.

"Chuck, what's wrong?" Sarah asks sincerely, thinking she had said something or done something wrong when she had advanced and tried to lean forward to kiss him.

However, Chuck was just pointing in the direction behind Sarah and she turned her head immediately to see Morgan and Carina both waving at them.

Sarah began to rage inside, of all the people who could have shown up, just as Chuck was about to kiss her aswell. 'I'm going to kill her.' She tells herself as every part of her body fills up with rage.

"I'm so sorry Chuck. This is me, I slipped up." Sarah says as she had turned her head back to Chuck.

Chuck shook his head "Nah, this one is on me. Morgan asked me where I was heading tonight and I told him." He stops, before looking back in the direction of Morgan with daggers in his eyes.

"I'm going to kill him."

"Not if I kill her first." Sarah says vehemently as she looks at Carina who had just stopped Sarah from kissing the man she still loves far more than anything.

 ** _A/N_**

 _LOL, Morgan and Carina actually hindered what was about to happen, rather than help, which was their intentions LOOL I'm so cruel. I love it. Though they probably did Chuck a favour, didn't they?_

 _Next chapter, the night's not done yet, as we finally find out the big revelation of how Charah broke up,_

 _and more_


	13. 14 02 2000

**Previously**

"I'm so sorry Chuck, this is me, I slipped up." Sarah says as she had turned her head back to Chuck.

Chuck shook his head "Nah, this one is on me. Morgan asked me where I was heading tonight and I told him." He stops, before looking back in the direction of Morgan with daggers in his eyes.

"I'm going to kill him."

"Not if I kill her first." Sarah says vehemently as she looks at Carina who had just stopped Sarah from kissing the man she still loves far more than anything.

* * *

 **Chapter Thirteen**

 **14/02/2000**

It had been two hours since Sarah and Chuck had been interrupted from what can only be classed as a date. Since Morgan and Carina had arrived, Chuck hadn't compromised himself any further to Sarah, he had completely closed off from her and built up all the walls again and they were back to being awkward around each other and the air was pretty tense again. Sarah and Chuck had both worked so hard to remove all of that tension all day and now it was back as strong as it had ever been thanks to Carina and Morgan.

They were presently at a bar but both Chuck and Sarah just wanted to be home right now, they wanted the ground to swallow them whole. Sarah was drinking way to much, and Chuck wanted nothing more than to join her in that particular action but he was driving so it sucks to be Chuck right now as he sits drinking orange juice extremely pissed off with Morgan, not because he had interrupted what Chuck and Sarah were about to do, he was actually extremely thankful of that, as he had seriously compromised himself towards her, but he was pissed off that Sarah and himself were tripping over each other again, they had only just got on speaking terms again and then Morgan shows up and tombstone piledrives an already fragile situation. He doesn't even really know who Carina is, this is the first time that he's met her so he can't say that much about her but she was probably the orchestrator behind what they had both did, he can tell she's sneaky like that just going by her persona... And here she was, trying to talk to him for the last few minutes while Morgan and Sarah were at the bar, he hadn't paid too much attention to what she was saying, he didn't care to be frank.

Sensing that Sarah was feeling a lot like him, Chuck decided to get up from where he was sitting and join Sarah at the bar, wanting to try to repair as much of the damage that Carina and Morgan had done to them as he possibly could. Today was a huge milestone for Chuck in getting over what had happened six years ago, and he would be dammed if he was going to let it all be destroyed by two people he didn't like very much right now.

On seeing Chuck heading in Morgan's direction, Morgan quickly made haste the opposite direction towards Carina, as his CO gave him a look like he was about to kill him. Death by strangulation were the thoughts going through Chuck's mind at present.

Arriving at the bar, where Sarah had her back to him he sighs, before attempting to talk to her. "Hey Sarah, is this seat taken?" He asks Sarah, who had now turned to face him.

"Actually, it's reserved for someone." Sarah says flirtatiously, hinting at Chuck it's for him.

"Oh ok." Chuck says, as he goes to turn again.

"Noo Chuck wait." Sarah quickly says. "It's just a joke, sense of humour?"

"Sarah, I lost my sense of humour six years ago." Chuck says seriously while looking at his ex girlfriend.

"Sorry." Sarah says, as she mopes her head in shame for like the hundredth time today.

Sighing deeply once more, Chuck needed to try and find some common ground with Sarah again, and he couldn't think of anything better than to apply some hate toward Carina and Morgan, he continues, "No, I'm sorry Sarah. I could kill those two right now." He says, nodding his head over in the direction of Carina and Morgan who were probably busy orchestrating their next scheme.

"Yeah, so could I." Sarah laughs back in response.

The ex couple then spend the next few minutes hating on Morgan and Carina, which seems to ease some of the tension and they even manage to share a joke at Carina and Morgan's expense which causes them to both laugh together. Chuck was now also sitting on the bar stool that Sarah had reserved for him.

Sarah had apologized to Chuck for the amount of alcohol she had already consumed and said that she must be lousy company right now.

"On the contrary Sarah, if I wasn't driving, I would be on the floor already and you'd have to carry me home right now."

Sarah began to laugh. "Chuck, you still have your sense of humour." she jokes.

"Yeah, I lied." Says Chuck as they both begin to laugh together again.

* * *

10 minutes later

Chuck and Sarah were still sitting at the bar, but had now been silent for a short while as their topic of conversation had ran dry and they didn't really know what to say to each other. There was still a bit of friction there between the ex couple when suddenly, three guys began to attempt to chat Sarah up.

Chuck was watching on for a minute or two and sensing that Sarah was feeling very uncomfortable and unwilling to talk to them, he decided to step in and offer her a way out.

"Hey guys, why dont you leave her be, yeah?" He asks the three guys nicely who had gathered around her.

"Why, it doesn't look like she's talking to anybody?" One of them replies rather rudely.

"I don't see a ring." Another says.

Suddenly, on hearing what that irrelevant had just said, Chuck was off his stool "As a matter of fact, she's talking to me. But if you want, we could have a talk ourselves, and your friends over there, if that's really what you want?" He warns menacingly with a scowl on his face as he begins to edge closer protectively towards Sarah, leaving his warning to hang in the air as Chuck shifts his gaze menacingly between all three of the young men, and the other group of four who were seated at a table, who they were presumably with, as that's where they had came from. Right now, Chuck was extremely pissed off because of those chosen words and would take on the whole bar, and anybody else who wanted a pop if that's what it took for them to leave Sarah and him alone.

But suddenly, Sarah moved to wrap her arm protectively around Chuck's torso to try and calm the situation, as she knew just how dangerous Chuck could be, based on what some of Chuck's men had told Sarah about him when she had inquired extensively about him. Sarah was sure that these men had absolutely no idea just how dangerous this man was who they were talking to and besides, she only wanted to talk to one person anyway. Nobody else in this world mattered to Sarah, just Chuck.

"Chuck, please dont." Sarah whispers into his ear, imploring him not to hurt anybody which causes Chuck to shiver and get goosebumps as he visibly relaxed slightly at the touch of his former lover.

The men had all eyed Chuck up and down and sensing that he probably wasn't somebody they wanted to mess with as he looked extremely pissed off, they walked away to bother other women in the bar, leaving Chuck and Sarah to be alone once more...

Meanwhile, in one of the corners of the bar, a conversation was ongoing. "See what I mean Morgan? They need each other."

"I don't think it's a good idea Carina, she broke his heart." Morgan replied as he too began to sit back down after he seen the four guys around the table all sit back down and the guys around Sarah and Chuck all walk away as he watched his best friend sit next to Sarah again.

"And she's the only one who can heal it. Trust me, they need this Morgan, just back me up okay?"

* * *

30 minutes later

Chuck, Sarah, Morgan and Carina were all seated around a table still at the bar. Carina and Morgan had just told Chuck and Sarah that they were heading back to Morgan's place and suggested that Chuck take Sarah home. Chuck wasn't entirely comfortable with taking a vulnerable Sarah home, but he wasn't going to leave her on her own of course so the four companions all began to split ways. Sarah was tipsy and was pretty touchy with Chuck as he helped his ex girlfriend into his car, hoping that she wouldn't be sick in it or try to kiss him again...

* * *

35 minutes later

Chuck and Sarah had just arrived back on base and Chuck pulled up outside Sarah's quarters.

Sighing, Chuck says "Well here we are."

"Will you come in?" Sarah asks Chuck while looking at him hopeful and reluctant to leave him, not now they are on talking terms again.

"I don't think that's a good idea Sarah." Chuck says, while shaking his head no sensing that only bad things could come from him entering her quarters with her.

"Chuck, please." Sarah begins to plead with him, as she puts her hand on his thigh, which was pretty distressful for Chuck as he winces before Sarah continues, "I just want to talk to you, we didn't get chance with Morgan and Carina. Please Chuck." Sarah continues to plead with him with those puppy eyes that would used to have Chuck beg,grovel or steal just to be looked at like that by her.

Sighing, knowing that this was absolutely the wrong thing to do, he goes against every single instinct screaming at him telling him it's a bad idea...

* * *

Sarah and Chuck were now drinking coffee on the sofa in Sarah's temporary quarters, both of them feeling uneasy and hadn't really said much to each other since they got here. And Chuck was becoming more and more uncomfortable, and sensed now was a good time to leave. "Sarah, this is a bad idea, I should probably go." He says as he attempts to stand up.

"Please don't go Chuck." Sarah says with a large portion of need and loneliness attached to her voice.

Chuck stops moving as he sighs to himself and bites on his hand, this was why he didn't want to come in here, he predicted it before he even chose to, they have too much history, it was never going to end positively.

"I miss you." Sarah says to him in a soft, lonely tone as Chuck turns to look into her eyes and sees the same emptiness that he has had for many years, he sees the same vulnerability in her that he himself has.

"Sarah, we can't do this." Chuck continues to sympathetically insist, knowing nothing good could come from this.

Sarah is now beginning to become more and more upset, as Chuck melts down his walls more and more as he sees how vulnerable she is right now. They are on a collision course and it's not going to end well for either of them, especially on the back of a critical and DANGEROUS deployment.

Tears begin to fill up in Sarah's eyes now. "Chuck, I miss you so much." Sarah says as she continues to look into Chuck's eyes lost, with tears in her eyes, and he's melting away incredibly fast, as he drifts back into thoughts of how he felt all those years ago. Chuck swore he would never let anybody do this to him again. This is torture at its finest.

"Sarah, we really, really can't do this." Chuck continues to try to implore her. But it's no good, this has been coming since they first set eyes on each other again, he sees it now, he sees everything.

"I'm so sorry Chuck!" Sarah suddenly bursts as she leaps into his arms and he instinctively forms protectively around her, protecting her vulnerable state as she cries into his chest.

Sarah continues cry into Chuck's chest, as he continues to hold the only person he'd ever opened his heart to. His heart was now beginning to feel things it hadn't felt in over six long years. Chuck didn't even know he could feel like this any more, he thought it was gone forever. The irony to it all being this is and was the woman who caused his heart to break in the first place. He strengthens his grip even tighter around her, he's so compromised now, this is it, as all the thoughts and feelings and emotions he's tried to hide and bury all those years come flooding back in one fell swoop as his own eyes begin to water as the soulmates expose themselves to one another once more, more than six years since they last touched each others soul.

"I'm so sorry baby." Sarah continues to sob into his chest while he continues to comfortingly and protectively hold her.

Suddenly, a feeling of rage hits Chuck, as he strengthens his grip even further on the only woman he has ever loved. "Why did you do it Sarah, why!? I was going to ask you to be my wife!" he chokes out, before burying his head on top of Sarah's.

* * *

 ** _14 February,_** ** _2000_**

 ** _Echo Park_**

 ** _Los Angeles_**

 ** _Sarah and Chuck's residence_**

Sarah had just arrived home and on entering their apartment, she calls out "Chuck?" as she continues further into the apartment, seeing rose petals all over the floor "Are you home Chuck?" she shouts once more.

She enters into their bedroom, witnessing yet more rose petals, flowers and romantic candles.

Sarah spots a note on their bed, she moves to sit on the bed, to read the note from her boyfriend "Sarah, as you're reading this, I'm waiting in our favourite restaurant, don't keep me waiting too long, I love you, Happy Valentine's Day."

Sighing, with tears in her eyes, Sarah leaves their apartment to head to where Chuck is waiting for her.

* * *

Chuck was sitting inside the restaurant, more nervous than he had ever been in his life, he has a small box in his hand, and he's never felt more exposed and as vulnerable as he is feeling right now, he's waiting anxiously for Sarah to turn up, she should have got his note by now, he checks his watch as he waits...

* * *

Chuck spots Sarah arrive, he quickly puts the small box back into his pocket as he stands up to greet his girlfriend and hopefully very soon to be fiancée.

"Hi beautiful." He says as he gets close to her, he leans in to kiss his girlfriend, she's unresponsive, he thinks nothing of it. 'Probably just a bad day, Jeff or Lester have probably pissed her off.' He thinks to himself as he thinks Jeff or Lester have probably done something to her at the Orange, Orange she works at to help pay her tuition fees.

"Chuck, we need to talk." Sarah says very meekly.

Chuck ignores her, as he's in a world of his own and more nervous than he's ever been. "How was your day baby?" He asks as he pulls out the chair for her to sit.

Sarah is now sitting in a sombre mood. "Chuck please, we need to talk."

He's still ignoring her, extremely nervous and vulnerable, still in a world of his own. "Sarah, you know when you meet somebody in life, and you're just perfect for each other?" He pauses to try to calm his nerves. "Sarah, words can't express the love I feel for you, they just don't do it justice. I've been thinking about us a lot lately, about our future, and the life I want us to have together. Every morning I wake up and every time I look at you, it's the most beautiful place I've ever been, I want to spend the rest of my life with you, I had a plan for this at home, but I can't wait any longer." He pauses, reaching into his pocket...

"Chuck, we can't do this any more. I never loved you. You were just a distraction for me, nothing else. We just aren't meant for each other. I'm sorry Chuck, it's over." Sarah says extremely weakly, tears visible in her eyes before she got up and ran off in the direction she had come from without saying another word.

"Sarah, wa" Chuck couldn't complete his sentence, as he was stood gob smacked, soul crushed, his life had just ended...

* * *

 **A nearby car park**

Sarah ran to her car devastated as she wept for an indefinite period of time as she pounded her fists and kicked away at the dashboard of her car, not stopping until all of her knuckles were bleeding as she kept repeating to herself "I'm so sorry Chuck." as she cried herself into an oblivion.

* * *

 **Echo Park**

Chuck just entered his apartment, he closed the door after him, his mother and Ellie are inside the apartment waiting.

"Chuck, how did it go, did she say yes?" They both ask their family member.

Chuck walks past them ignoring them as he enters into his bedroom, as he slumps to the floor, a broken mess.

Ellie quickly runs in after her brother moving to sit on the floor next to him.

"Chuck, what is it? What's wrong?"

"She left me Ellie, Sarah has left me." Is all Chuck can say, as he's broken and soul-crushed.

"Chuck, you're joking me right? Please tell me this is some sick joke!" Ellie begins to rage.

Suddenly, Chuck throws the engagement ring box at a nearby dress table as he begins to sob uncontrollably as his mother also runs in to console an inconsolable Chuck.

* * *

 **Present Time**

 **Sarah's Quarters**

On hearing Chuck's revelation, Sarah immediately lifted her head up from where Chuck's was resting, their faces inches away from each other as she looks into his eyes, gasping. Sarah has now lost her breath as her heart and soul suddenly smash into a million pieces as she begins to violently shake her head as his words have a major impact on Sarah's state of mind as she realizes what she actually did. Sarah is now inconsolable as her face turns to shock, before more tears come and she weeps louder than she ever has in her life. She puts her hands onto his cheeks, "I'm so sorry." is all Sarah can say once more before she buries her head back into his chest again, who still comforts her and wraps his arms around her again despite everything she had done to him. Sarah doesn't deserve him, she sees it now, she sees everything. Sarah feels him kiss her head once more, as she begins to feel extremely selfish. She's too weak to move and she can't speak. Sarah feels more alone right now than she ever has in her life. She needs this man, the man who she crushed and humiliated, more than anything, and she feels extremely selfish because of it.

"I forgive you." She hears him say, as Sarah begins to violently shake her head. She doesn't deserve his forgiveness. She doesn't deserve to live for breaking a man as amazing as this. She hugs into him tighter, as she hates herself and doesn't ever want to show herself to the world ever again. She wants to stay like this forever.

"Sarah, look at me." He continues to say, as he strokes her hair, but she can't face looking at hinm. She's ashamed at who she is, what she has done to this poor amazing man whose heart and soul she had ripped out.

"Sarah, please, look at me." He continues as he raises her head up gently to look at him.

"I forgive you." He says, as he looks into her eyes and strokes her hair.

Still ashamed at who she is, Sarah shakes her head once more, "No, I don't deserve your forgiveness Chuck." She says with a dangerous attachment of self hate, her voice broken and emotionally crushed.

"Sarah, it's buried, it's in the past." He says sincerely while looking into her eyes.

Suddenly, Sarah is trying to leave his grip. She doesn't deserve him. She can't be around him. She's toxic. She doesn't want him anywhere near her. She's trying to fight with him to break her way free of him.

"Sarah, please, stop it!" Chuck begs her to stop trying to violently fight him as Sarah attempts to fight her way free from Chuck's grip as she continues to hate herself in an extremely dire state of mind.

"Chuck, let me go, please!" Sarah continues to try to fight him, but he wont let her go and she gives up her violent attempt to break free from him and buries her head into his chest once more as he strokes her long flowing blonde hair as she cries herself into an oblivion exactly like six years previously...

End of Chapter.

* * *

 **A/N F** or anybody with a sharp eye I did mention the engagement ring box in the second chapter when Chuck was looking at his hands, I paid reference to it lol. Did anybody have an idea that maybe Chuck was planning to/ had proposed?

I might take a few days before the next chapter, as view count has plummeted the last few chapters, so I'll probably take a few days for people to catch up, I'm not sure yet. Maybe people have just lost interest in the story, which would be a shame.


	14. I Need Time

Previously: "Sarah, it's buried, it's in the past." He says sincerely looking into her eyes.

Suddenly, she's trying to leave his grip, she doesn't deserve him, she can't be around him, she's toxic, she doesn't want him anywhere near her, she's trying to fight with him.

"Sarah, please, stop it." He begs her to stop trying to violently fight him as she continues to hate herself.

"Chuck, let me go, please!" Sarah continues to try to fight him, but he wont let her go and she buries her head into his chest once more as he strokes her long flowing blonde hair as she cries herself into an oblivion just like six years previously..

* * *

 **Chapter Fourteen**

 **I Need Time**

"Hey Sarah, you hit like a girl, you know that right?"

"Ow, what was that for?" Chuck says as he winces from the elbow he just took from Sarah.

"For being a douche." Sarah laughed as she landed a soft blow to Chuck's chest for probably the hundredth time since leaping into his arms. Sarah had calmed down a lot now, and had managed to regain a significant portion of her composure after her earlier outburst that involved trying to fight her way out of Chuck's grip and the tears which had very much ran dry. Sarah was still in the arms of the man she has spent the last six years thinking about, and to be honest, she never wants to leave them ever again, for fear of if she does she will be back to being alone and suffering once more. Sarah has no fight left in her, she's emotionally spent and has tried to fight a losing battle for so many years and can't go another day living like that again, not now she's found him again, she never wants to leave him ever again.

Chuck was still chastising himself inside for his earlier choice of words to an already extremely fragile Sarah. Chuck has done some pretty stupid things throughout his life, but what he did earlier was up there with the worst of them, he doesn't know what the hell he was thinking, adding fuel to an already explosive situation. As for forgiving Sarah for leaving him, he forgave her the second she leapt into his arms, how could he not? The emotional state that Sarah is in right now is so much more extreme than Chuck could have ever imagined possible. Chuck has never seen her like this ever in all the time he had known her. It's so unbelievably evident that Sarah breaking up with Chuck has affected her FAR more than he had previously thought all for all these years, as these are not the actions of somebody who didn't love you, these are the actions of somebody who has probably spent the past six years a broken mess. Chuck had spent the past six years thinking that Sarah was a monster who never cared about him and oh how wrong he was... It's evidently clear to Chuck that Sarah still loves him, but Chuck doesn't even know how he feels any more, he doesn't even know who he is any more... They definitely cannot just go back to how they were before, and Chuck knows that Sarah and himself need to have a serious conversation in regards to where they go from here, as both himself and Sarah are broken messes. Chuck knows that the future is pretty clouded right now, and he doesn't even know what the present holds, he can't think straight. But for now, Chuck is content with where he is right now, because Sarah needs him, and no matter how much she had hurt him in the past, as far Chuck is concerned, it's all water under the bridge... He is however going to need to learn how to trust her again.

"Sarah, you're so damn heavy, you're squashing me here."

"Ow." Says Chuck as he once more gets a blow to his chest. Chuck is pretty sure that when he next looks at himself in a mirror, he's going to have a significant number of bruises from the battering his body had took from Sarah when she tried to fight her way free from him. Chuck had forgotten how deadly this woman could be when she was angry.

"Just be thankful you're a girl and I cant fight back." Chuck jokes which once more lands him another elbow to the chest.

"Okay, now you're pushing it, you're lucky I'm nice."

Another elbow connects from Sarah, as her head continues to stay buried into his chest.

"Okay, stop I surrender. Don't hurt me any more." Chuck pleads.

Another elbow to the same spot

"Hey stop I surrendered." Chuck protests

"Shut up." Sarah replied as she grins into his chest as she readjusts her head onto a different part of his torso...

* * *

"It's time to call it a night." Says Chuck mid yawn as he is getting very tired and is emotionally spent and all of his body feels dead from where Sarah had been laying for at least an hour and the bashing it had took.

"I'm not moving." Says Sarah, adamant that she's never leaving his arms again as she reaffirms her grip on him once more.

"Sarah I'm exhausted and I can't think straight." Chuck begins to plead with her.

"Tough, you should have let me go earlier." Sarah says sleepily into his chest.

"Don't make me carry you." Chuck warns.

"Do what you have to do Chuck but I'm not moving voluntarily." Sarah says drowsily, unwilling to leave the arms of the man she should never have left in the first place.

Suddenly, Sarah was being disturbed from her drowsiness and comfort as she moans at the intrusion as Chuck had picked her up.

"Put me down." Sarah commands sleepily.

"Nope, you asked for it." Chuck says as he walks in the direction of the bedroom, kicking the door open further as he then attempts to put Sarah down who was still clinging onto him as he attempts to remove Sarah's grip on him but she's still resistant. "Please Chuck, I don't want to be alone tonight." Sarah says as she looked into his eyes while speaking with the same vulnerable tone as their previous conversations earlier in the night.

Chuck sighs to himself as thoughts race through his mind as he weighs up the risk of getting into bed with Sarah.

"Just hold me Chuck, nothing else." Sarah says while still having hold of the upper part of his shirt as he continues to lean over her.

"Okay, but nothing else, yeah?" Chuck warns.

"I promise Chuck." Sarah says as she leads him onto the bed infront of her and she quickly melts into him as he puts his arm around her and she interlocks her hand with his as the pair quickly fall into a serious slumber emotionally and physically exhausted.

* * *

Sarah was disturbed from her sleep from a sudden movement behind her. Turning her head slowly, she was so happy to actually see Chuck still in bed with her and it wasn't just another one of her many dreams that she had, had of him over the years. Her happiness soon turned to sorrow however, as she watched the man she never stopped loving experiencing some sort of nightmare. His pupils were moving rapidly and his body was jerking. "Bryce, no!" She hears him say, as a lone tear forms in her eye. Sarah had heard the name Bryce before, when she was invited along to Chief Miller's homecoming. She lay for the next few minutes, as she watched her world that she should never have left all those years ago battle through the distress he was experiencing as she ran her hand through his hair soothingly. His nightmare had stopped now, and Sarah runs her hand through his hair a final time before kissing him on his cheek lovingly before turning to snuggle into him once more as she falls into a peaceful sleep again for the first time in nearly seven years...

* * *

 **August 30th**

 **Dam Neck Annex**

 **Virginia Beach**

 **Virginia**

 **United States**

It had been four days since Chuck and Sarah's emotional reunion. And the past four days had been pretty uneventful, at least in the sense that Chuck and Sarah hadn't shared the same bed again. They haven't been able to spend much time together either, because of the hectic responsibilities that Chuck's job entails, as Gold Squadron enter the final week before they deploy to the Middle East. It was pretty awkward however when they woke up in the same bed together, until Chuck made a joke that Sarah still snores as loud as ever, which caused yet another elbow into the already tender chest of Chuck from the previous night. They talked over breakfast and agreed that they should take a few days to figure things out, and not attempt to rush back into something they might regret, as their emotions were quite literally all over the place.

Chuck was just finishing his usual morning run as he bumped into Sarah outside of her quarters. "Hi Sarah." He says as he comes to a stop near her as he works on regulating his breathing after a pretty intense session.

"Hi yourself." Sarah says with a beaming smile as her mind fills up with thoughts about Chuck.

"Sleep well?" Chuck asks as he takes a drink of water from his bottle.

'Eh, would be much better if you were next to me again.' Sarah thinks to herself.

"Not so bad, could be better, I guess." Sarah says a tad bit mischievously.

Chuck looks at the floor pretty awkwardly briefly before looking back at her.

"How about you?" She asks.

"Me too, could be better." Chuck decides to reply in the same mischievous tone Sarah had used.

'Is he teasing me?' Sarah asks herself as they look into the eyes of one another pretty lustfully as she contemplates dragging Chuck back into her quarters until she realizes they aren't together any more and tries to snap out of those thoughts which is pretty hard to do as Sarah is looking at Chuck in his running gear with his huge thighs on display and his shirt tightly sticking to his torso. 'dammit Sarah stop, you agreed to take things slowly...'

"Hey Chuck I was just heading to get breakfast. Would you like to join me?" Sarah asks as she tries to shake off her lustful thoughts about her ex boyfriend? Sarah isn't even sure what they are any more, everything is so messed up right now.

"You know what, that actually sounds pretty good right now, if you'll give me a few minutes to change?" He asks.

"Great idea!" Sarah suddenly says as she's still deep in thoughts over Chuck's present outfit.

"Huh?" Chuck asks bemused.

"Oh sorry, I'm in a world of my own this morning Chuck." Sarah replies laughing, as she tries to avoid looking at Chuck much more, before she does something she absolutely wouldn't regret, but it wouldn't do much to help their situation. 'Baby steps Sarah.' She tells herself.

"Okay." Chuck says as he pauses to laugh weirdly before continuing, "I wont be long, I'll meet you there."

* * *

Chuck had now changed into his working uniform and had met up with Sarah at the mess hall, which went a long way to help restore Sarah's self control.

Whenever Chuck and Sarah had been together in recent days, it had always been met by whistles from the men of Chuck's unit as Chuck and Sarah have been the talk of base ever since they were spotted heading out together.

"Sarah, I just wanted to apologize. I haven't been able to spend much time with you this week." Chuck says as he chats with Sarah over breakfast.

"Chuck you don't have to apologize you have responsibilities."

"All the same, I'll make it up to you, I promise." Chuck says sincerely.

'Oh, how?' Sarah thinks to herself as she looks into his eyes as she thinks a kiss or two or ten would be pretty nice right about now before snapping out of it.

"Honestly Chuck, there really is no need. I'm just happy to be spending time with you now." Sarah says sincerely.

"How about a date, tonight?" Chuck suddenly asks rather nervously as he makes eye contact with her again.

Sarah stopped dead in her tracks as a smile began to form on her face.

"What, like a real one, without Morgan and Carina showing up this time?" Sarah replied as she began to laugh as she recalled how the last one which wasn't very funny at all went.

"heh. Yeah, one of those?" Chuck asks with the same nervous tone once more as he looked into her eyes as they both forget about all of the background noise going on around them.

"I'd like that Chuck." Sarah says while smiling at him as they continue to gaze at each other.

They continue to hold their gaze forgetting about everything around them as Sarah can't help but wait to be kissed once more before Chuck suddenly snaps out of the gaze and reaches into his pocket to get something.

"Oh, one more thing, here is my personal number. Call me anytime you need anything at all." He says as he hands Sarah his number. "I should probably get back to work. I'll see you tonight?" Chuck says as he gets up, waiting for a reply before he departs.

"Bye Chuck." Sarah says smiling, as she watches every step he walks away until he had disappeared from sight...

* * *

Later that evening

Chuck had just arrived to pick Sarah up so they could head out on their first official date since being reunited. And on receiving an answer Chuck quickly became lost in the beauty that is Sarah Walker as she was stood infront of him wearing an ocean blue blouse.

"Sarah, wow I have seen some beautiful sights on the edge of an Aircraft Carrier but I have to say, nothing comes close to when I look at you."

Sarah stood dumb founded, oh how she's missed hearing his compliments. Screw the date, Sarah was so tempted to just pull this man back inside her quarters right now.

"I've missed your compliments. You look great too." Great being a 'slightly' toned down version of a list of adjectives currently running through Sarah's mind.

Sarah's response, coupled with the present look she was giving him, which was a mixture of love and lust caused Chuck to laugh nervously as he quickly led her to his car, as they weren't quite on kissing terms yet.

* * *

Sarah and Chuck were now in the middle of their date and thankfully, they hadn't been interrupted this time by Morgan or Carina and the mood was so much better as the couple of four years attempted to continue to reconcile.

"Sarah, I would be lying if I said I had a plan for how all of this is going to play out." Chuck admitted truthfully as he sat opposite Sarah in the restaurant they were at together.

"Wow, I thought you had a plan for everything." Sarah replies flirtatiously while beaming a bright smile at him.

"Ha, funny. But seriously, I don't even know how I feel right now Sarah. I need time to think things through. We should probably take this slowly." Chuck says honestly while he is talking and eating noodles.

Sarah takes hold of one of Chuck's hands and looks longingly into his eyes.

"Chuck, we'll take this as slow as you need, okay?" She says as she rubs his hand affectionately before continuing, "Take as much time as you want. I don't have a plan for this either. All I know is that there hasn't been a single day that has gone by where I have not regretted what I did to you that day. So for us to just be here right now, I'm extremely thankful for that alone." She says sincerely and they share affectionate smiles as they play around with each others hand whilst gazing into the eyes of one another purposely for the billionth time since setting eyes upon one another at Stanford...

* * *

Chuck and Sarah were now back on base and Chuck was saying good night to Sarah after a wonderful evening.

"I really enjoyed tonight Sarah. Thank you." Chuck says sincerely as he walks Sarah to the door of her quarters to say goodnight to her.

"Me too Chuck." Sarah says as she turns around to gaze lustfully into Chuck's eyes.

Chuck is caught in two minds whether it's appropriate or not to kiss Sarah good night. Hell, he doesn't even know right from wrong any more. 'Screw it.' He thinks, as he leans in to kiss Sarah who had quickly met him half way as they both get lost in time for what felt like an eternity as they kissed each other for the first time in nearly seven years as their hands ran affectionately over each others face and they closed their eyes to take in the breathtaking touch and taste of each other which is infinitely more powerful than they both remembered it to be.

And no sooner than it had begun, it was over as Chuck decided to break the kiss when Sarah had attempted to deepen the kiss and introduce passionate tongue play with him, leaving Sarah stood rooted to the spot, love struck and yearning for more as Chuck said his farewells "Goodnight Sarah." He says, as they now remove their arms from each others waist.

"Bye." Is all Sarah can say, as her mind is busy elsewhere as it begins to replay what just happened in vivid detail over and over for the rest of the night...

End of Chapter

 **A/N** Not a whole lot here but I'm presently suffering a touch of the good old writer's block at the minute. Two more scenes upcoming over the next few days; A double date with Morgan and Carina (Watch out for a Morgan/Sarah conversation) and a final team gathering before they ship out, which gets pretty heated for Charah, so watch out for that one. The second arc to the story will then begin, and we will have our first live mission.


	15. I Don't Want A Fling

_Good morning :) (At least I hope it is where you are, if not, good evening :) ) Here I am sat writing another Chapter on this beautiful morning as my tinnitus rings through my head. Does any reader actually suffer this like me, it's quite nasty, isn't it? I might also watch the new Star Wars today, as I've yet to see it. Read the books though, so I already know what happens._

 _But back to fanfiction things, I would like to continue to offer my increased gratitude to my regular readers, and hope you're continuing to enjoy the story as much as you did in the beginning. If you're just here to enjoy the story, you should probably skip the next section and move straight onto the quick recap in the final part of this **A/N** and then onto the latest adventures that we have in store in this Chapter._

* * *

 _I just want to quickly make two, actually three comments as I feel forced to defend myself in regards to a pretty distasteful person who I have had no prior history with prior to this weekend. So I have absolutely no idea why a grudge is being held against me, though I did read an **A/N** in his story in the immediate aftermath, where he proceeds to attack me and my story, rather than just concentrate on his own story (which I wont comment on, because it's not my business to do so. **Hint** ) that he is trying to tell, and try to make it better, but each to their own I guess?_

 _Firstly; I've already made it well known that I have basic high school education for English Language, and it's not suddenly going to just change overnight, I don't see the need to keep repeating that, but here it is anyway; Before I'd found fanfiction, I had never written anything more than a few scraps of A4, aside from College coursework of course, but in terms of Creative writing. English was a subject I hated in school, I had no time for it, and I didn't try at all, so my English isn't going to be great in this, unfortunately, but you know what? I don't care, because I'm enjoying writing about my favourite TV show. If you simply cannot read this story because of inevitable mistakes that will be made, you don't have to, nobody is holding a gun to your head, but please, don't attempt to make fun of somebody for giving it their best shot, because that's just malicious and makes you out to be not a very nice person. Calling people terminally stupid, I mean really? How old are you? You should probably act your age._

 _Now as for the slander in regards to making claims that I am just salvaging ideas from other stories; You are wrong. I have not read a single Chuck fiction in over three years. I haven't even looked back yet on any that I myself had attempted previously, did I maybe at the time get some scene ideas from stories I had read for those? It's been so long I honestly don't recall. Like my mob story for example; I remember reading a very short Chuck fiction that covered Chuck and Sarah being cheated on, they were college room mates. I thought wow! What an amazing idea, the story was abandoned only two or three chapters in if I recall, and I decided I wanted to maybe do my take on that scenario, and I came up with an in depth story plot (Charah being FBI agents, taking on the mob, and were already in love prior to the cheating, that was all my spin on it, my own idea.) I don't see what is so wrong with that? But as for everything to come from **THIS** story, I was **NOT** influenced by **ANY** other author on here. As I have not read many fictions from other authors at all, and again, it has been at least three years since I last read a Chuck fiction. Even all of the stories I have favorited, I have probably never read through more than a third of them, I just favorited them in case I ever did want to read a story, and they were there so I didn't have to browse through over 3k stories again, I picked out the best ones based on the summaries and just favorited them, that's just my way of working around this site, each to their own. So yeah, it's probably not very accurate to siphon through my favorited stories and suddenly show up saying I've copied ideas from them, as the chances are I've never even read them. You should probably get facts from the person before you attempt to make accusations about them._

 _Third, and finally, contrary to the opinion of somebody who has come to conclusions about a person he doesn't even know the first thing about; Constructive criticism is very much welcome here. Please, I implore you, if you have anything constructive you would like to criticize me over in this story; Please do. I will and have taken criticism on board already. Criticism is interaction, there is however a big difference in constructive criticism and people who just pop up to flame. Who are generally just known as flamers, rather than criticizers._

 _Now is probably a good time to also fit in the **disclaimer** that I still don't own anything here, except maybe one or two outfits that I dress the characters in sometimes, lol._

 _But now back to what actually matters, as all of the above is just petty bickering by a certain individual who must have nothing better to do with their life really. And I will **NOT** partake in it any further, I'm not malicious, I hold no grudge against anybody (Except Chuck writers for the awful ending) and I don't intend to start doing so now._

* * *

 ** _I have been meaning to do a story recap comprised of everything covered so far for three chapters now, as some viewers are ever so slightly out of sync with the story at this point and have asked for clarity so I will try to help you guys out and do a quick recap of key events as we near to a close of the first arc to the story. Almost all of this has already been mentioned in the story thus far, but I will mash it all into one readable wall of text, for easier reference._**

 ** _1996 – Sarah and Chuck meet on a Stanford University tour._**

 ** _1999 – July – Sarah is recruited into CIA to spy on somebody on her campus. She felt an enormous sense of pride that she was doing something for her country, was told not to tell anybody, not just Chuck, she could tell nobody. Sarah also meets Carina at CIA academy that she attended for a few days._**

 ** _2000 – January - Sarah is forced into killing the person she had spent months spying on, as he was in the advanced stages of planning an attack. Not much is known yet in regards to how it happened._**

 ** _2000 – February – It had been 5 weeks since Sarah's 'red test' and she hadn't been able to look at Chuck again the same way since she had done it. Sarah was told by her boss Graham to end all ties with Chuck with nothing more than a 'security concerns' answer given when she asked why. So Sarah used this as an excuse to break up with him, she thought she could protect Chuck from the life she had been living for a year and she didn't want to corrupt him by having him anywhere near her after what she had already done. Sarah wanted Chuck to stay completely how she remembered him, she wanted to keep him honest and sweet. However, Chuck was about to ask Sarah to marry him, and the break up crushed him so much he joined the Navy, to channel all of his energies into it as he needed to find a will to continue to live._**

 ** _2006 – August – Charah are reunited, only this time one is a CIA agent and the other is a Navy Seal. They aren't just college lovers anymore, they have both been through six emotionally draining and stressful years. Sarah has had several mental breakdowns, as she never recovered from breaking up with Chuck. The day Sarah left Chuck, something inside her snapped and she's been emotionally unstable ever since. She also blames herself for everything that Chuck has become. Chuck meanwhile, he doesn't even know who he is or how he feels anymore, he's killed far to many people and the horrors of war are getting to him. Possibly has post traumatic stress disorder. I'm also keeping Chuck true to canon in regards to he feels like he can fix every single problem he has ever faced, and believes that Sarah and himself could have worked around whatever had happened in the past._**

 ** _Sarah is not a 'super spy' in this story. There's no such thing as a 'super spy' in this story. There will be no seducing of marks, no sleeping with marks to get information, no assassinations, and everything else that comes with being a super spy. Special Agent Shaw is the Regional Head of Operations in the Middle East and he's probably as close to being a 'super spy' as anybody, he oversees Black Ops missions and is involved in 'extracting' information from all the HVT's that the special forces teams capture._**

 ** _Sarah's primary responsibility is intelligence gathering. You could probably remove the word 'agent' from her name and just call her an employee. It's people like Chuck, Morgan, Casey who act on the intelligence she provides. They are the ones who go on missions, Sarah just gets them the information they need to carry out those missions. Though she does put her self in harms way at times as she attempts to obtain that information, but she is not trained in warfare._**

* * *

 **Chapter Fifteen**

 **I Don't Want A Fling**

 **1st September**

 **Dam Neck Annex**

 **Virginia Beach**

 **Virginia**

 **United States**

Lieutenant Commander's Bartowski, Cooper and Williams as well as their Executive Officer's Lieutenant's Grimes, Wilson and Anderson had just finished their final Squadron meeting prior to deploying on operations. LCDR's Cooper and Williams would both be leading their respective troops and immediately deploying straight to a Forward Operating Base (FOB) in Iraq, where they will look to tackle and fight the insurgency as live information is passed on to them from the intelligence agencies. Chuck's troop meanwhile will deploy to the USS John C Stennis, to act as a Rapid Reaction Force on board the Aircraft Carrier to respond to any live situations in the immediate vicinity for two weeks while Red Squadron were stood down for rest and relaxation.

Chuck was just leaving the main briefing room of his base while in deep conversation with his best friend.

"How are things with Sarah, Chuck?" Morgan asks his best friend while having an arm on his shoulder as they walked along together.

"Not you as well Morgan." Chuck says while laughing as he shakes his head disapprovingly. Chuck and Sarah have been the talk of base all week and everybody is poking their nose in wanting to find out what is going on with the CO and the CIA agent.

"As your best friend, I think it's kind of different don't you think buddy? I'm looking out for you, not wanting you to get hurt, while those jackasses are just looking for gossip on their CO." Morgan says as he finishes with a snicker.

Chuck takes a second to contemplate what Morgan had just said. "That's actually true." Chuck says as himself and Morgan both nod in agreement as Morgan waits patiently for Chuck to start talking. "We're just taking things slow Morgan. Right now I have no idea how I feel, it's still a shock to the system. I had spent years trying to forget about her only to find her once more in the last possible place I would have ever expected her to be and furthermore, it turned out she had lied and kept the true reason that she had for leaving me from me, which I still can't accept." He says all in one breath which leaves Morgan confused as he had to repeat everything Chuck had just said before nodding his head in agreement after finally making sense of it all.

"Yeah, I can see why you might still be a bit confused there Chuck."

"Heh. Thank you."

"Do you miss what you had with her though?" Morgan asks as the best friends continue to walk.

"There hasn't been a day that's gone by where I haven't missed what we had, it was perfect. But I don't trust her any more man, what's to say she isn't just going to leave again when the going gets tough once more?" Chuck says as he sighs deeply before continuing again. "I'm not sure I will ever be able to trust her again. We can't just go back to what we had." Chuck says honestly as he opens himself up to his best friend.

"Well, only you yourself know that brother. Just take things slow, don't rush back into something you're going to regret. I don't want you to go and get yourself hurt again Chuck." Morgan says sincerely to his best friend.

"Thanks man."

"Any time at all Chuck, I'm here for you man, you know that, we've been through hell together and if we can't talk and be honest with each other brother to brother then what are we good for?"

"Amen to that." Chuck says as they shoulder bump each other.

"Oh, one more thing before I conduct those drills you asked for. I need to ask you a favour, and feel free to say no, and by that I mean say no. But... Uh, do you fancy double dating tonight?" Morgan asks.

'Hm, why would he want me to say no?' Chuck begins to contemplate the answer to that question as a huge smile forms on his face as he begins to plot some pay back for the interruption at the hands of Carina and Morgan the other night.

"Actually, you know what Morgan? That is a great idea my friend, a great idea!" Chuck says with a huge smile as he pats his best friend on the shoulder.

"Dammit Chuck man, you're supposed to say no!" Says Morgan frustrated.

"You know what Morgan?" Chuck pauses, as he gets out his phone. "I'm going to call Sarah right now and tell her it's on."

"Chuck don't you dare, put that phone down man!" Morgan says as he attempts to snatch the phone from his CO.

"Hey Sarah. Have you heard about a possible double dating plan tonight?" Chuck asks on the phone as he continues to shift his body in a way that his XO can't get at the phone.

He gets an answer on the other end of the phone. "Oh? You have? Yes, I think it's a great idea." Chuck says passionately. "What's that?" He has to ask Sarah to repeat as he didn't hear everything she had said mid fight with Morgan. "Nope, I'm positive. We're going to have a great time!" He says enthusiastically.

"Oh? Pizza and a Movie at Morgan's apartment and then out onto a bar together?" He says with an enormous grin as he looks at Morgan who has his head in his hands. "Can it at least be Star Wars or Lord of the Rings or something?" Morgan says in resignation. Chuck ignores him, he has just the perfect movie in mind to watch tonight.

"I'm not driving tonight Sarah, so I hope you're ready to carry through on your promise of carrying me home." Chuck jokes.

"Ok bye, I'll see you later then." He finishes as he puts the phone down.

"Why did you do that Chuck, why? You probably hate double dating as much as me!" Morgan says frustrated.

"I'm not so sure buddy, you seemed to enjoy it last weekend." Chuck retorts.

Suddenly, it hits Morgan. "Oh! I guess I deserved that huh."

"Yes you did, I'll see you later tonight. Don't forget your dancing shoes, we're going to have a great time!" Chuck says passionately as he's looking forward to this evening already which will involve getting in the way of Morgan's intentions with Carina.

* * *

Later That Evening

Chuck and Morgan were now both off duty and were presently inside Morgan's apartment with Sarah and Carina.

"Thanks for doing this Chuckles. I wanted to get to know you better." Carina says as she presently has hold of the arm of Chuck, and was getting disapproving looks from Sarah because of it.

"No problem at all Carina, I'm actually really looking forward to it." Chuck says energetically as he glances in the direction of Morgan who is looking like he wants the ground to swallow him whole as he waits for the inevitable fallout from whatever Chuck has planned.

"Sarah has told me so much about you." Carina says, as she still has hold of Chuck's arm.

"Oh? Good things I hope?" He asks nervously glancing in the direction of Sarah.

"Ignore her, I've told her nothing." Sarah says as she continues to give Carina daggers for holding Chuck's arm, and opening her mouth, but mostly for holding Chuck's arm.

"Speaking of telling people things, Morgan has told me so much about you." Says Chuck, as he looks between Carina and Morgan who were now looking at each other.

"Oh, has he?" Carina asks interestedly.

Chuck laughs before continuing. "Yeah, as a matter of fact, he never stops, I have to tell him to shut up as I get fed up hearing about it. If you had to ask me, I would have to say he's fallen pretty deep already. The last time I heard him talking about someone like this was about his high school girlfriend. Heh." Chuck finishes, as he glances at Sarah who was laughing as Chuck had already told her of his plans.

Morgan could only sigh as he put his head in his hands, while telling himself 'No, no, no! Not cool Chuck, not cool. What are you doing man, I'll get you for this. This is gonna be a long night...'

* * *

The small group had just ordered pizza and were in deep conversations as they all got to know each other better.

"So Chuckles, tell me more about how you and Sarah first met." Carina says while sitting in close proximity to Chuck as she cosied up to him while still receiving deathly glances from Sarah to which Carina pays no attention to as she continues to vibrantly chat away in her usual demeanor.

"Yes Chuck, why don't you tell us all about it?" Morgan says, as he bends his head past Carina to make eye contact with Chuck while smiling at him. 'Two can play this game sucka.' Morgan chuckles to himself proud at dropping his best friend in it.

"Actually, you know what? I'd love to." Says Chuck as he smiles away as he proceeds to tell Carina for the next ten minutes how him and Sarah met each other, which leads to Morgan dying of boredom as he has to hear all about it while also leading to Sarah now being the one having to hold her head in her hands at what Chuck has done. She'll never hear the end of this now, knowledge is power for Carina.

This particular topic of conversation continued for a short while longer as Carina and Chuck chatted away before Carina went to get wine while Morgan headed for the bathroom.

"Chuck, can I ask you something?" Sarah says, as she had to wait until they were both alone, as she doesn't want anybody privy to their past relationship. Chuck and Sarah were always a private couple who kept themselves to themselves, and Sarah wants it to remain that way, and to not open up the can of worms to Carina who is trying her best to find out everything about Sarah and Chuck's history.

"Absolutely, you can ask me anything, what is it?" Chuck ask sincerely.

"How did you remember that I don't like olives." Sarah asks rather cutely.

Chuck suddenly began to laugh uncontrollably for the next minute, causing Sarah to look at Chuck like he had four heads, as she didn't see what was so funny about the question. It was an honest question.

"Chuck?" Sarah asks confused.

"I'm sorry Sarah." He says mid laugh before trying to regain his composure to get serious "It's just, I still remember EVERYTHING about you." He says, emphasizing the word 'everything' as he begins to laugh once more, shaking his head. "I still remember your favorite toothpaste." He says honestly.

"Did I ever tell you that you were a freak?" Sarah asks gob smacked at Chuck's confession.

"Many times Sarah, many times." Chuck says, as he begins to laugh again, this time joined by Sarah in the action as she nudges into him as they play fight briefly but cutely...

* * *

Pizza's had now arrived and the small group were chatting as Chuck put on the movie, to Morgan's displeasure.

"Oh hell no, come on Chuck man! Not Marley & Me!" Morgan says, as he knows that everybody is going to get all emotional and it wont do much to help his plans to get laid.

"What's wrong with it, it's a great movie." Chuck defends himself with Carina and Sarah quickly agreeing with him as Chuck snickered away to himself.

"So Chuckles, why did you join the Navy?" Carina asks, which earns her more daggers from Sarah.

"Followed in the footsteps of my father. He's actually an Admiral." Chuck deflects, unwilling to divulge that particular part of his past.

"No way, that was him from the briefing?" Carina asks with a look of shock on her face.

"Sure was." Says Chuck laughing before the group begin to tuck in and watch the beginning of the movie...

* * *

The small group were still in the middle of watching Marley & Me, and Chuck was trying to enjoy it, despite Morgan's best intentions to spoil it as he hadn't stopped talking throughout the entirety of it. Deciding he had, had enough of Morgan speaking, Chuck decided it was time to continue on with his torturing of his XO.

"Did Morgan ever tell you how he joined the Navy, Carina? I'm sure Sarah would also like to know, right Sarah?" Chuck says with a huge grin while looking at his he's not sure yet.

"Oh yes, absolutely." Replies Sarah, as she grins and nods her head in response pretending to be deeply interested.

"Eh, I'm not so sure Carina wants to know about all of that." Says Morgan quickly and sensing Carina was about to object, Morgan didn't give her chance to intercede as he continued on.

"What we should be more interested in knowing is what bar's we're going to hit!" Says Morgan, doing anything he can to deflate Chuck's present line of topic.

"Chuck you better be a good wingman tonight man." Morgan warns.

"Morgan, we've already got women." Chuck sighs with his head in his hands, which causes Sarah and Carina to laugh at the actions of the two Navy men.

"I mean in all other senses of the word Chuck."

"When am I not?" Chuck laughs.

"True brother, true." Says Morgan as he thinks of the hundreds of times himself and his brother have gotten drunk over the years.

* * *

The group of four had now arrived at the first of several bar's they planned to visit this evening and Morgan was extremely hyped up and was attempting to hype up the other three as he tells them to live fast and die young.

"Speak for yourself." Chuck and Sarah agree while Carina, well… Carina already lives fast.

The small group enter into the noisy and very busy bar.

Chuck immediately starts bopping his head to the beat feeling it. "Yeahhh!" Chuck shouts above the music as he high fives a waiting Morgan.

"Tonight is gonna be awesome!" Morgan shouts, as he gets pumped up and raises his arms as he takes in the atmosphere.

* * *

The group had now been in the first bar for an hour and Morgan was trying to rally the troops and keep them having fun as he starts to chant "Shots! Shots! Shots!" at the group as they queue up at the bar to get shots.

* * *

Chuck and Sarah were now around a table in deep conversation though they had to shout as it was pretty noisy in here right now.

"Wow Chuck, you sailors sure know how to party!" Sarah shouts, as she's pretty shocked at how outgoing Chuck is compared to how he used to be. Though it's understandable, she thinks, as he's undergone a significant change in stature, as well as six years in the Navy. That would absolutely help confidence. Sarah thinks that Morgan is crazy, but sometimes you need a little crazy in your life.

"Heh. Six years in the Navy does that to you!" He shouts back as he takes another swig of his beer. "What about you, you seem to be more adapt at partying than when we were in Stanford!" He shouts above the noise.

"Six years of friendship with that will do that to you!" Sarah laughs as she points at Carina dancing crazily as she's trying to motion Chuck and Sarah over to joining her and Morgan.

"Well, shall we?" Chuck asks with a grin.

"I'm not so sure!" Sarah says a bit apprehensively as she laughs.

"Come on!" Chuck says laughing, as he stands up and leads her up to follow him as she quickly follows him as they go to dance with Morgan and Carina as Carina vibrantly bounces all over the place. Morgan likewise was doing the same thing.

'Those two are perfect for each other.' Chuck laughs to himself as the four of them all dance away like a bunch of lunatics.

* * *

A short while later

The small group were now at a different bar and it was slightly quieter in this one, at least to the extent that they could have a conversation without having to shout at the top of their lungs.

Carina was dancing away with Chuck as she continued to meddle into Chuck and Sarah's history.

Sarah was watching on looking at Carina with her usual feeling of malice towards her best friend. More so today than usual however, as she was in close proximity to Chuck and if she sees anything she doesn't like she's going to kill her, and Sarah was already planning ways on how she could do it.

"Hey Chuckles, you know that Sarah has not had a single guy since she left you right?" Carina whispers in close proximity to him.

"What, really?" Chuck asks shocked as he stands back to question that statement, before looking in the direction of Sarah who looks more beautiful every single time he looks at her. 'Surely that can't be possible?' He asks himself.

"I swear Chuckles, trust me, she's not been short of offers either. What about you? Have there been any other women since Sarah?"

"A gentleman never tells." Chuck laughs in response as Carina continues to further pry at Chuck over his relationship with Sarah.

Meanwhile, at a different location inside the same bar.

"How are things with you and Chuck?" Morgan asks with his arm around his best friends old flame.

"We're just taking things slow." Sarah admits.

"It's probably for the best, you don't want to rush back into things again." Morgan agrees.

"I miss him." Sarah admits dejectedly looking in the direction of Chuck dancing away.

"Chin up doll." Morgan says, rubbing her arm. "Just give him the time he needs, he's going to need to learn to trust you again." Morgan shouts.

"I will do absolutely anything to earn his trust again Morgan, but what if it's not enough?"

"Then it's not meant to be." Morgan replies honestly.

Sarah's persona immediately becomes demoralized as she hangs her to look down at the floor.

Morgan quickly interjects once more as he sensed the look of defeat on Sarah's face.

"But I know my friend Sarah, heh, we shared BUD/S together and trust me there's no bigger bond than people who had to fight through that hell together and I'm absolutely convinced he's not over you." Morgan jokes to cheer up Sarah, before turning serious.

"But Sarah, please don't hurt him again. If you want him back, make sure it's for keeps this time, don't leave him a second time."

"Morgan, if I lost him a second time I can safely tell you that I would no longer be on this earth." Sarah says zealously as she looks at Chuck dancing away with Carina as he glances back in her direction.

Morgan has a sudden urge to have to choke back emotions. 'Hm, that's weird.' He thinks to himself, as he's not had feelings like this in over six years since Anna Wu left him.

'Urghh.' He says disgustingly to himself, quickly shaking off the emotions as he slips back into his confident self.

* * *

"What has Carina been saying?" Sarah asks Chuck, as the pair were now in close proximity to one another talking away with beer bottles in their hands.

"Oh, I'm sure you know her better than me." Chuck says laughing.

"Yeah, I do." Sarah laughs in response as they look longingly at each other.

"Enjoying tonight?" Chuck asks Sarah.

"I really am, how about you?" Sarah asks as she smiles while continuing to gaze into Chuck's eyes.

"Me too." Says Chuck, as they begin to edge closer to kissing each other when they are suddenly interrupted by Carina mid action who drags Chuck off to dance with her, leading to Sarah snarling as her plans to kill Carina once more come back into fruition as she looks around the bar for a weapon.

* * *

Even Later That Evening

The small group of four had now just left the final bar of the evening and were all embraced together after a long night of drinking, dancing and conversation. The small group were all pretty drunk right now.

"Hey guys, are you coming back to Morgan's apartment with us?" Carina asks as she wants to have an after party as the night is still young for her.

Morgan, who is standing behind Carina is shaking his head and begging with his hands mouthing "Please no."

Sarah and Chuck are just laughing at each other as they are embraced with their arm around each other.

"What do you think Chuck?" Sarah asks while laughing.

"I'm not so sure Sarah, what do you think?" Chuck says while also laughing as the pair look at Morgan who is making all kinds of hand signals behind Carina's back.

Sarah takes a moment to pause, to add suspense to the situation before finally responding.

"Maybe that's enough for one night." Sarah says finally as Morgan falls to his knees on the floor mouthing "Thank you."

The two pairs now begin to say their goodbyes.

"Thanks again for doing this Chuckles, I had a great night it was good to get to know you." Says Carina as she hugs and kisses Chuck which almost causes Sarah to remove one of her high heels to stick it into Carina's head.

"You too Carina." Says Chuck as he reciprocates the actions.

Carina and Sarah then hug and kiss, which causes Morgan to make an approving facial gesture while grinning away to Chuck as it lasted several seconds.

'That's pretty awkward.' Chuck drunkenly thinks to himself.

Morgan and Chuck then go through their usual bromance routine of fist bumping, shoulder bumping, hugging and whatever else they decide to add into the mix.

The two pairs then separate and begin to head in opposite directions.

* * *

"Chuck, you're evil, you know that right?" Sarah says laughing under the arm of Chuck once more.

"Only to people I don't like." Chuck retorts laughing away.

They stop walking at the edge of the road while they wait to find a taxi and while they wait, Sarah has ideas on how they can keep warm as she turns to face Chuck as they embrace, proceeding to lock one another in a passionate kiss as Sarah attempts to deepen it while running her hands all over Chuck's well built body.

The reconciling lovers quickly become lost in the moment as they attack each other with such passion, though that's mostly just Sarah, Chuck's just her passenger 'I need a cold shower or ten.' Chuck thinks to himself, as she's doing all kinds of things with her tongue to him as Chuck's brain quickly turns to mush. Thankfully, he opened his eyes when he did, as he just noticed a taxi and quickly broke from Sarah's grip on him, leading to groans from Sarah as they got into the waiting taxi.

* * *

Sarah and Chuck had just arrived at Chuck's personal apartment separate from his base that he leases.

"So this is the home of the famous Commander Bartowski?" Sarah asks flirtatiously as he leads her into his apartment.

"Heh, sure is. It's not much but it more than suits its purpose. I'm not here much anyway." Chuck finishes with a laugh, which causes Sarah to giggle as she can relate.

"Oh yeah, I absolutely understand that. I'm leasing an apartment in D.C. and I'm not there much either." She says as Chuck puts his set of keys down on the table.

"Come with me, I'll give you a tour." Chuck says as he takes Sarah's hand and leads her around his apartment.

* * *

Several minutes later

Chuck had just finished giving Sarah a tour of his apartment and they were now back in the living section in close proximity as Sarah begins to seductively pose.

"Uh." Chuck says as his brain stops functioning as he looks at Sarah's provocative posture.

"So, what's the plan for the rest of the night? Sarah asks flirtatiously, before grabbing hold of his shirt.

"Drunken snuggles on the sofa while watching a rom com?" Chuck asks weakly.

Suddenly, a huge grin forms on Sarah's face as she leaps to embrace and kiss him. "You haven't changed." She says cutely post kiss.

"Neither have you." Chuck replies in the same tone, before proceeding to pick her up and throw her onto the waiting sofa, which causes Sarah to get extremely turned on at the ease in which he just did that. 'Okay, maybe he has changed.' Sarah thinks to herself as her mind continues to race with thoughts 'He can throw me anywhere.' Being the last one before he joined her on the sofa and she quickly melted into him.

* * *

Sometime later

The Romantic Comedy had just finished and Chuck had spent the last hour playing with Sarah's hair and had to keep having to fight off Sarah's hand as it kept finding its way up his shirt as she wanted to play with the new instruments that weren't previously there when they were last together.

"Time for bed." Chuck yawns, stretching his arms in the air.

On hearing the word bed, Sarah darted up from the sofa in record time and was trying to pull at Chuck's arm to lead him to the bedroom. Chuck unfortunately, had other ideas.

"I'll take the sofa Sarah."

Sarah's face immediately began to fill with disappointment.

"I'm sorry." He says sincerely. "I don't want a fling Sarah, I can't..." He finishes, as he goes to a fetch one of the several blankets he has in reserve for when any of his men crash at his place as the lovers separated and headed for different places of rest.

End of Chapter.

 **A/N** Next chapter might take a few days, I'm not feeling very well at the moment. I don't feel like eating anything and I have some very bad chest pains. The next chapter will be the final day before Charah ship to the Middle East and Chuck invites Sarah along to a couple of final team gatherings.


	16. Sarah, I Can't Lose You Twice

In the words of the fantastic Officer Crabtree, "Good Moaning."

I actually forgot to thank you guys last chapter, you all inspired me to extract revenge out on Morgan in the last chapter which was based on PM's and Reviews. It's pretty hard to extract revenge on Carina as she doesn't care the slightest bit but it felt good to get some revenge on Morgan for what they did, lol.

* * *

Previously: _"Time for bed." Chuck yawns, stretching his arms in the air._

 _On hearing the word bed, Sarah darted up from the sofa in record time and was trying to pull at Chuck's arm to lead him to the bedroom. Chuck unfortunately, had other ideas._

 _"I'll take the sofa Sarah."_

 _Sarah's face immediately began to fill with disappointment._

 _"I'm sorry." He says sincerely. "I don't want a fling Sarah, I can't." He finishes, as he goes to a fetch one of the several blankets he has in reserve for when any of his men crash at his place as the lovers separated and headed for different places of rest._

* * *

 **Chapter Sixteen**

 **Sarah, I Can't Lose You Twice**

 **2nd September**

 **Chuck's Apartment**

 **Virginia Beach**

 **Virginia**

 **United States**

It was just after 11am and Chuck had only just finished breakfast. He had woken up pretty late this morning, considering that he usually wakes at 6am. Chuck wanted to take a shower right now more than anything, but he was waiting for Sarah to wake up as that would be awkward if she walked in on him while he was in the shower, he shivered at the thought, that would be very awkward indeed.

He also had to skip out his usual morning run, as he didn't want to be out of his apartment when Sarah woke up, as that would not be the actions of a good host. Chuck was still in deep thoughts about his plans for the day when Sarah appeared at the doorway.

"Hi Chuck." Sarah says from the doorway.

"Hi-yo!" Is all Chuck could say as he had turned to greet Sarah only to see her wearing one of his Navy shirts that he had told her she could wear, more importantly however, every single inch of Sarah's long golden legs were on show.

Chuck could only gape as he had to quickly cover his mouth with his hand as he began to choke as the air was suddenly very hot.

"Help yourself to breakfast, it's all prepared." He says faster than he has ever said anything in his life as he quickly brushed past Sarah. "I'm gonna take a shower." He says as he leaves the kitchen to head to the bathroom to shower. 'And it's going to be a cold one, and then I'm gonna take a second one!' He tells himself as he heads in lightning speed to cool off before he maybe does something he regrets.

"Okay." Sarah laughs puzzled, as she is not awake yet and didn't catch onto why Chuck was behaving awkwardly.

* * *

One hour later

Chuck was now driving Sarah back to his base, where her temporary quarters are. Chuck checked his watch to get a sense of time, as he had plans for a barbecue and an afternoon team get together at Chief Miller's house, he relaxes, as he still has plenty of time to spare before 14:00.

"Do you have any plans today Sarah?" Chuck asks Sarah as he turns to look at her briefly before concentrating on driving again.

"Nope, free as a bird, why?" Sarah says as she turns to look in the direction of Chuck.

"Oh, it's just my troop are having a get together at Chief Miller's house, you'd be more than welcome to join us." Chuck says, as he concentrates on driving.

"Oh, I'm not so sure." Sarah says a bit apprehensively, she's not really one for big crowds.

"Come on, there's nobody else I'd sooner ask." Chuck says sincerely.

"Well if you put it like that, how can I resist." Sarah jokes.

Chuck grins. "Great, you'll love them, you've probably met most of them anyway."

"I'll need some time to change, freshen up."

"No problem at all, I can wait." Chuck says sincerely.

* * *

One hour later

Sarah and Chuck had just arrived at Chief Miller's family home and immediately came under accurate gun fire causing Chuck and Sarah to have to take cover back inside Chuck's vehicle as they were bombarded with water from the group outside John Miller's home as Chuck's car took an afternoon shower for the next minute as they were surrounded on all sides.

The volley of water continued until Jane and Sophie had to appear to stop the kids and the men who were just as bad as the kids to allow the young Commander and his companion to leave the car.

"What have you signed me up for Chuck?" Sarah jokes.

"Oh trust me, you've seen nothing yet." Chuck laughs as they can now finally exit his car.

* * *

One hour later

Chuck and Sarah were now with a large portion of Chuck's troops inner circle. Chuck was playing cops and robbers with the kids and they were all chasing after him as he played the robber, while Sarah was standing around with the women of the troop though she was pretty zoned out as she usually is when she watches Chuck, who was making a fool of himself as her heart strings pull in every direction.

Sarah had been introduced to everybody again, though she already knew most of them. There was Chief John Miller, his wife Sophie and their two sons. As well as Master Chief James Garcia, his wife Jane, their two daughters and son. Chief Daniel Rodriguez and his long term partner Rebecca and their son. First Class Neil Brown and second class Phillip Wilson were also in attendance, as well as a couple of John Miller's family friends and their children.

Jane Garcia had winked at Sarah when she seen Sarah with Chuck, which caused Sarah to grin in response to the much older lady.

"Miscarriage?" Rebecca suddenly asked Sarah who was still in deep thoughts. Sarah immediately snapped out of her daydream to look in the direction of Rebecca.

"Oh I'm sorry, that was actually extremely rude of me." Rebecca says once more, before continuing sadly, "It's just, I've recently miscarried myself." She sadly says as she also watches all of the children running around after Chuck.

"Oh, I'm so sorry." Sarah says sincerely as she rubs the arm of Rebecca. "I was just thinking, what if?" Sarah says dejectedly as she looks in the direction of Chuck once more who was now glancing back at her with his usual trademark Bartowski grin.

"Commander must really like you, he's never brought anybody along before." Rebecca says as she brightens up once more.

* * *

Sarah and Chuck were now just two of many people gathered around a large makeshift table as the close knitted group all ate barbecue and salad. Sarah had just been given a medium rare cheeseburger with extra pickles, courtesy of Chuck of course.

"Hi." Chuck says as he nudges into Sarah while conversations are ongoing all around the huge table

"Hi yourself." Sarah says, nudging back into him.

"Sorry I haven't talked much since we got here." Chuck says mid bite of a burger.

"You had your hands full." Sarah jokes as the reconciling lovers continue their conversation as the large group all continue to enjoy each other's company.

* * *

Later that evening

Chuck had dropped Sarah off at base earlier while also inviting her at the same time along out this evening as the men and women went out on their own without the children. Sarah had accepted Chuck's invitation and after dropping Sarah off, he then went home to his apartment to freshen up and change into evening wear and was now back waiting inside Sarah's quarters as he waited for her to finish getting ready. 'Women.' He joked to himself as he had gone home showered, shaved and still made it back before she was ready. Though he was absolutely sure it would be well worth the wait.

Sarah was also getting overnight things ready as Chuck had suggested she may as well just crash at his place again. Sarah and Chuck were getting a lift to the restaurant from Morgan and Carina who would now be joining them. Morgan was the designated driver this time around, leading to complaints from himself as he wanted to spend the final thirty six hours before deployment a drunken mess, though him and Carina would probably do that after they got back to his place and party into the morning anyway.

Chuck was in deep thoughts when he seen Sarah emerge, but all thoughts suddenly stopped as his brain cells died and his brain went off to heaven. Sarah was wearing a teal strapless cocktail dress and matching high heels

'How many showers in one day do I need with this woman?' Chuck jokes to himself as the reconciling couple look at each other lustfully.

"Sarah… You know that you're the only person in this world who can cause me to be at a loss for words?" Chuck says, unable to disengage his eyes away from Sarah.

"Chuck, the feeling is mutual." Says Sarah, as she runs her hands down his shirt while kissing him passionately before having to quickly stop herself before she loses the small amount of self control she has remaining and would be forced into devouring him on the spot.

* * *

Sarah and Chuck were now at the usual large bar & grill restaurant that Chuck's troop use for social gatherings. The men and their companions/spouses were chatting away outside the restaurant while they waited for the final members to arrive before they were seated.

Chuck had greeted everybody who arrived so far and the final two members who were joining them had just arrived together. Chuck walked over to greet Third Class Matthew Perez and Second Class Sam Walker, the two men under his command that he had reprimanded a week ago who had been the instigators of a bust up in Chuck's troop.

"It's good to see you two have made it up." Says Chuck, as he smiles away while he shakes both of their hands.

"Was just heat of the moment sir, all is well." Says Second Class Sam Walker, with Third Class Perez agreeing as they pat each other on the shoulder.

"That's good to know." Says Chuck as he walks into the restaurant with his arm around both of them as everybody was here now.

Chuck, Sarah, Morgan, Carina, Master Chief Garcia, Jane Garcia, Chief Miller, Sophie Miller, Chief Rodriguez, Rebecca, First Class Brown, Second Class Wilson, Second Class Walker and Third Class Perez were all sat around a table and were chatting away to each other while eating and drinking as their final gathering as a team before they ship out. Sarah and Chuck this time were seated next to each other and Sarah had reached for his hand several times under the table and had attempted to put her hand on his thigh on at least three occasions causing Chuck to attempt to mouth at Sarah to stop it who probably didn't even realize she was doing it as she slipped back into old natural instincts of whenever they used to go out together as a couple.

"I would like to make toast to old friends and new friends." Master Chief James Garcia says, as he points in the direction of Sarah and Carina who were being integrated into the group and the strong bond that they have over each other.

The group all raise their glasses to toast to old and new friendships before proceeding to clamour for their CO to make a final speech.

Sighing, as he didn't particularly feel like making a speech tonight, Chuck stood up anyway as he did want to give thanks to a group of people who would be tested in the coming months while his troop were deployed.

"I would be a stone faced liar if I said that a service person didn't have it easier when we are deployed on duties. We have the easy part, we are living our dream." He stops, to pause as he looks at every single person around the table, which earns him some "Speak for yourself." remarks from several of the guys of his troop.

Chuck continues further. "But seriously, we get to play around with guns while every single mother, father, child, spouse is sat at home, trying to keep the family together in all the months that we are away, waiting for that dreaded day where they are informed that their loved one has been killed in action, glued to the news each day to find out news of casualties. I can speak for every single guy here in saying we cannot even begin to imagine what that is like for you." He says pausing, as he nods at all of the spouses of his men in attendance. "You guys are the real heroes, not us." He says sincerely and powerfully. "So a toast then, to family." Chuck finishes.

"To family." The entire group raise their glass to toast, before Chuck sits back down as the group chatter continues once more.

Sarah once more connected her hand with Chuck's as they looked into each others eyes lovingly for an indefinite period of time as the whole table were smiling away and in deep chatter as they continue to spend a final night in each others company before they are all separated for months and maybe even for some, an eternity...

* * *

00:00 hours

Chuck and Sarah had just been dropped off at Chuck's apartment by Morgan and Carina. Three of them were quite merry, with Morgan being the odd one out.

Carina and Sarah were now saying their good byes to each other as they would not be seeing each other for a few months now as Carina would be joining up with Colonel Casey's Delta Force Detachment in Afghanistan while Sarah would be liaising with Chuck's DEVGRU Squadron and Cole Barker's British SAS Squadron.

The two best friends had said their goodbyes and Carina now turned her attention to Chuck. "Look after her for me Chuckles please." Carina said as she hugged and kissed Chuck once more "I will." He says honestly.

And with that, the two pairs had split up once more leaving Chuck and Sarah standing alone outside his apartment.

Chuck and Sarah were now purposely glancing at each other once more and Chuck was still mesmerized with Sarah's beauty on display this evening.

"Sarah, I know I already told you earlier but just wow…..." He stops speechless as he nods his head up and down to add emphasis to his compliment.

"You're so sweet Chuck." Sarah says, overcome with emotions because of how amazing he makes her feel.

"Sweet? Gee thanks for making me feel like I'm eight." Chuck jokes as Sarah continues to eye him up and down like a predator which causes Chuck to gulp. If Chuck was eight it would be highly illegal for Sarah to be having the current thoughts that she is having about him.

"We should probably go inside." Chuck says, sensing Sarah was about to jump him in the street which would get them arrested for indecent exposure.

"That might be wise." Sarah says while laughing but with a serious tone.

Chuck opens the door to his apartment and Sarah enters first with Chuck closing the door behind her, and as soon as the door was closed Sarah turned and began to kiss Chuck sensually as her hands moved suggestively all over his body. They are rooted to the spot for the next minute as the reconciling lovers kiss and explore each other's body with their hands with more than six years of built up sexual frustration shared between the two.

Sarah had long dropped her hand bag that she was holding onto the floor and Sarah's overnight bag that Chuck was carrying for her had also been dropped out of his hands as Sarah began to lead Chuck towards the bedroom inside his apartment.

Chuck, in a brief moment of courage? or stupidity? He has no idea, his brain had died suggested that he should probably take the couch again as he was quickly being led by Sarah further towards to the bedroom.

"Not tonight Chuck, we've shared a bed hundreds of times." Sarah says as she continues to kiss his face off while leading him further toward the bedroom.

"True." Is all Chuck can say, completely brain dead as blood quickly runs to other parts of his body instead.

They had entered Chuck's bedroom and Sarah and Chuck's hands were continuing to explore parts of each other that they last touched six and a half years ago.

Sarah had thrown Chuck onto the bed and was quickly on top of him as she continued to kiss him while opening his shirt before running her hands and lips all the way down his chest.

Chuck was getting extremely turned on and had no single ounce of resist left in in his body as he had surrendered every single part of himself to his soul mate.

Suddenly, Chuck turned the aggressor as he flipped Sarah over as they continued to kiss while Sarah continued to run her hands all over his torso. Sarah was extremely turned on right now and was probably already close to climax and they had only just left first base and starting their second phase, though that probably comes with yearning for somebody for more than six years, it had been so long since she was this intimate with a man, hell this was the only man she had ever been with or even looked at sexually for that matter.

"Chuck, please." Sarah breathed out, tired of kissing already, he was always a slow lover, even when they were together he used to tease her until she would explode.

Trying to flip him over so she could be the one to set the pace once more though unsuccessfully as he stops her, as Chuck now pins her arms to the bed while continuing to kiss her causing her to get even more turned on by his sexually aggressive actions.

Chuck began to carefully help Sarah out of her dress, though she wouldn't have cared if he would have just ripped it off as he was taking to darn long. Sarah was now down to a matching underwear set and Chuck was also belt less as she continued to attempt to pull at his pants which were being so darn resistant 'Where is a knife when you need one.' Sarah thinks to herself as she wants them both to be bare this instant.

Suddenly, Chuck had stood up from the bed and Sarah immediately became concerned. "Chuck?" She asks warily.

"Protection." He says as he reaches into his pants to take out his wallet while sitting back down on the bed as Sarah began to kiss his neck from behind.

He opened his wallet where he always left a single condom as he always thought it would be better to be safe than sorry but to his dismay it was replaced with a note that read; iou one condom. Your pal, Morgan. ps. You wont be needing it ever anyway. Lol.

"What the f..." Chuck stopped mid sentence pretty pissed off.

Sarah had just read the note mid neck kiss. "Chuck, we don't need it." Sarah says exasperated, as she continues to kiss him from behind but he had now completely closed off again.

Chuck had now stood up, he turned to face Sarah as he now began to feel strong doubts and nervousness at exposing himself to his soul-mate once more.

"I can't Sarah, not like this, it wouldn't be right." Chuck states as he begins to build up some of his walls again.

"Please Chuck, I need you." Sarah says lustfully.

He pauses, putting his arms up in the air in resignation. "I'm so sorry, this is too fast, I'm not ready. I can't lose you twice Sarah it would kill me."

And with that, Chuck leaves the bedroom, leading to Sarah falling flat on the bed with six and a half years of sexual frustration as she slams her fist and head into the duvet menacingly screeching "I'm going to kill you Morgan Grimes!"

End Of Chapter.

 **A/N** AHAHAHAHA. I'm so sorry everybody. TRUST ME, it will be worth it when you see the scene that I have planned.

This is also the end of the first arc. The next chapter begins on board the USS John C. Stennis and I'm now probably going to take a weeks break from the story.

You might hate me right now for doing that to Charah but you will forgive me when you see the scene that I have planned that actually makes them reconnect as lovers. Though I'm not going to lie to you, it's going to take a while, so don't expect it to come suddenly in the next chapter as the tensions of war and the stress and challenges of being involved in a conflict are now about to come into fruition, the last few chapters have all just been the calm before the storm.

I think Morgan is presently leading you guys 2-1. Maybe tell me some things that you would like to see happen to him? :P


	17. You Were Always Perfect For My Son

I still haven't heard any suggestions from you guys on how you would like Sarah to get payback on Morgan, heh. And I'm presently drawing up blanks on it so if the suggestions are good I really will incorporate them into the story! (He's not dying though, or losing any body parts, lol.)

* * *

Disclaimer: Lots of references to the Movie 'Navy Seals' in the next few chapters. And I still don't own Chuck. But if I did, there would have been a movie by now, and we would be seeing a dozen Charah babies running all over the place with lightsabers.

 **Chapter Seventeen**

 **You Were Always Perfect For My Son**

 **Fifth Fleet**

 **On-board U.S.S John C Stennis**

 **19:00 hours**

Lieutenant Commander Bartowski had been on board the multi billion dollar John C Stennis Aircraft Carrier for three days now and was presently inside one of several Tactical Operations Centers (TOC) located inside the ship's main Combat Information Center (CIC) or Operations Room. Chuck's troop were on 24 hour standby for any active situation that they needed to respond to in a two-hundred mile radius of the warship's current deployment.

The young Commander was trawling through live intelligence reports to look for any priority tasking when his pager had just went off and he was ordered to report to a main briefing room on the warship.

Chuck immediately navigated his way through the busy warship and arrived several minutes later at the briefing room. Arriving inside the briefing room, Chuck glanced around and seen a couple of Navy Intelligence figures as well as the ship's Captain and his XO; along with the Commander, Air Group (CAG) in attendance as well as Sarah. Meeting her gaze briefly, Chuck manages to afford her a slight smile, before shifting his gaze elsewhere as he looks at the final people inside the room who happened to be his XO Lieutenant Grimes and his senior enlisted Master Chief Garcia.

The gathering of Military and Intelligence personnel all took a seat inside the briefing room as the Admiral of the Fleet arrived and informed the posse of Military and Intelligence personnel of a developing situation.

"Priority tasking," The Admiral begins as he pauses to make sure all eyes are on him, "Navy Intelligence has reason to believe that these three American aid workers," He pauses, as the pictures of three aid workers appear on the main projector, "recently captured in the Basrah area are being held inside this compound." A satellite feed of the compound in question suddenly appeared on one of the projectors.

"A CIA informant has provided hard evidence of this compound being used as an Insurgent hotbed."

The Admiral turns to glance at his young son who is in Command of Special Operations that are conducted from the warship.

"Commander, we're tasking your SEAL Team with getting them out."

Chuck nods his head in response to his Admiral and father, as the briefing continues on further.

"Satellite hovering over the area curtsey of CIA and Navy Intel is picking up large activity inside the compound, with fifteen heat signatures presently inside the compound and the lead looks promising. We are working to confirm which building inside the compound contains the aid workers."

"Commander, your team will insert via Seahawk's and will disembark at a British FOB (Forward Operating Base) and will hike the remaining 10KM on foot with a silent approach so you don't alert the captors to your presence." The Admiral pauses to allow his information to sink in before continuing once more, "Commander, your primary rendezvous will be several hundred metres away from the compound as the Hawks will remain on standby for extraction at the British FOB. Secondary rendezvous will be back at the British FOB."

"Okay, questions?" The Admiral asks as he has covered every important detail.

"Sir, Rules Of Engagement?" Master Chief Garcia asks.

"Weapons Green inside the compound. Any hostile with a weapon you are clear to engage."

"And outside, sir?" LT Grimes asks.

"Weapons Yellow. Do not fire unless fired upon first."

"Sir, what about the British? Basrah is their back yard." Chuck asks his father.

"I will be informing the Senior British Military General of a raid in his district, your call sign will be Frogslegs if you run in to any Coalition troops on the ground."

"Any more questions?" The Admiral asks as he glances around the room, nobody speaks up. "Very well, Commander Bartowski, I'll leave you to liaise with the CAG and Intel for any assistance and support your team will require, that is all."

And with that, the Admiral departed to return to other pressing matters.

The small cluster of Military and Intelligence officials then began to exit the briefing room as the Captain and his XO of the John C Stennis returned to the Bridge.

 **20:00 hours**

LCDR Bartowski was now inside the ships main Operations Room locked in Military discussions with the CAG Captain Edwards as they liaised their manpower together.

"That primary landing zone looks very exposed to the general population." The CAG pauses, as Chuck and himself look over a map of the area as the CAG is in deep thoughts over his course of action, "We'll leave a gunship on overwatch at the primary LZ, I take it you will need two birds for transport?"

"Aye Captain, what time frame are we looking at for air support if we call it in?"

"We could have Hornets overhead probably ten minutes after the call comes in. What time frame are we looking at for you to be on the ground and at the compound?"

Chuck pauses to look at his watch, "Probably 00:35 hours, extraction roughly 01:20 hours if all goes well."

"Well I think we have pretty much covered everything unless there is anything else you need me for Commander?"

"That should be all sir." Says Chuck, as he shakes the CAG's hand.

"I'll be on the Bridge if you need me, I'll brief the Commanding Officer."

"Thanks."

And with that, the CAG departed the TOC that Chuck is planning out the rescue operation from.

"Captain Barnes sir?" Chuck requests the Navy Intelligence Commanding Officer.

"Aye, Commander?"

"What time frame are we looking at for the next most up-to-date satellite pictures?"

"20:40 hours Commander."

"Thanks." Replied Chuck as he continued to study satellite feed of the compound.

"Agent Walker?"

"Yes Commander?"

"I need to know everything about this compound, who has links to it? I don't want to hit a compound with fifteen plus bodies inside without knowing if one hundred more of them aren't going to just turn up when their buddies phone for help."

"There's not much more I can tell you Chuck, I really wish I could. All the CIA know is that the militants inside that compound all have strong links to the Warriors of God, they're a splinter group that have broken off and reformed. CIA believe that they could total up to one hundred fighting fit bodies in the cell." Sarah pauses, as she studies the face of Chuck. "Chuck are you okay? You look like you've seen a ghost?"

"Could Red Eye be inside that compound?" Chuck asks immediately with a large portion of malice attached to his voice.

Sarah quirks her eyebrow, pretty shocked at that random question, and the manner in which Chuck had asked it. "I mean its possible, CIA doesn't have much info on him, he vanished from chatter entirely after being directly linked to a fire fight with U.S. SF in Ramadi several months ago, he raced up the capture/kill list in the aftermath."

Sarah isn't sure what is going on with her lover? She still doesn't know what to class him as any more but regardless, she doesn't know what is going on with him right now as he doesn't look very composed which is very strange because since she first met him again almost a month ago he has always looked quite the opposite to how he is behaving right now.

"Chuck, are you okay?" Sarah asked concerned for the most important person in her life.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Replied Chuck, who was shaking his head trying to clear his brain.

Sarah continued to study Chuck's facial expressions and could tell something was deeply troubling him. Sarah had taken a psychological profiling course at the CIA and can read pretty much anybody and her soul mate doesn't look fine right now, quite the contrary, he looks troubled.

"Chuck, are you sure?" Sarah asked in a soothing tone, wanting to put her hand on his shoulder comfortingly but she dare not do something like that, that would be completely unprofessional. She wasn't addressing her lover right now, she was addressing a Navy Lieutenant Commander in the middle of a war. This was very much his show, she was just a passenger along for the ride.

Chuck shook his head a final time, "Yeah, look, this will really help, thanks." He finished, as he walked off to lock himself in discussion with his Master Chief and XO.

 **21:20 hours**

 **U.S.S John C Stennis**

Chuck and his troop of SEAL's were presently inside a Ready Room on board the warship and were in the advanced stages of planning out the raid of the compound in Basrah to rescue the three American aid workers. The raid is going to be a multi objective mission, as their secondary objectives was to intelligence gather and collect all physical intelligence from the compound and to neutralize the militants inside the compound. Anybody with a weapon is deemed hostile.

Chuck and his troop were studying the pictures and the background information on the three captured aid workers, as they need to familiarize their faces so when they carry out the raid, they can quickly cancel out them being a threat to them. They would also have to ask the three workers one specific personal question about themselves each; This is used to confirm identity.

"Fresh satellite reports show there now being sixteen bodies inside the compound, it's definitely an Insurgent hotbed and the OP is a green light. Final satellite pictures will be available at 21:40 so that's about all, we'll round it off here and begin last minute checks and I'll see you on the flight deck at 22:30 hours. Operation commences at 22:35 hours. I'll now leave you in the company of the Master Chief, that is all..." Said Chuck, as he left the Ready Room containing his troop to head back to the Operations Room.

 **22:30 hours**

Chuck and his troop of elite Navy SEAL's were now on the flight deck of the Aircraft Carrier and preparing to embark onto the waiting Sikorsky SH-60 Seahawk's that would transport them to the British FOB where they would hike the remaining 10KM to the compound. The helicopters would then wait at the FOB for the confirmation to head to the final extraction point and return the SEAL's back to the Aircraft Carrier after hopefully a successful mission.

Sarah had arrived on the flight deck and was watching on with a wave of emotions. She'd never experienced anything like this in her life before, watching the only person in her life who means something to her about to put himself in harms way. Sarah can't really explain how she feels right now but she definitely feels physically sick.

"Let's bring these guys home!" Chuck says to his men as Morgan and himself then begin to lead the team towards the waiting Hawks, with Morgan highfiving most of the idle flight deck crew on the flight deck who were shouting, "Get some!" to the elite SEAL's.

As Chuck and his team boarded onto the Hawk, he gazed out of the Helicopter and in the direction of Sarah, who was now accompanied by the Admiral.

Sarah turned her head to glance at the Admiral when he put his arm around her shoulder.

"Hello Admiral." Sarah smiled at the father of her lover.

"Hi Sarah." Replies the much older father/Admiral.

"The first time is always the hardest." He tells her, as the pair watch the person who means so much to both of them ascend into the air as the three all glance at each other from a distance.

"Does it get any easier?" Sarah asks, still overcome by emotions.

"No not really, I still feel how I felt the very first time I watched him fly away into battle, just like you're feeling now." Admiral Bartowski says, as he watches the three Hawks all begin to put distance away from the Aircraft Carrier, "But he'll be fine Sarah, he's the finest Sailor I've seen in a long time."

"Admiral, can I ask you something?" Sarah says as she turns to face the much older Admiral.

"Sure, you can ask me anything, what is it?" Stephen replies.

"Why did you want me on this Task Force, after what I did to him?" Sarah says as she burns a gaze through her soul mates father.

"Sarah, you were always perfect for my son, and I have many mistakes to make up for…" Stephen says, as he removes his arm from his son's former girlfriend's shoulder to return to his quarters.

* * *

 **January 2000**

 **CIA Headquarters**

 **Director Langston Graham's Office**

Director Graham was seated at his office, presently waiting to be connected through to Admiral Bartowski.

 **Undisclosed Location**

 **Fifth Fleet**

 **U.S.S John C Stennis**

Admiral Bartowski was on board his flagship, inside his in-port cabin on the ship when a call came through from the CIA Director. Sitting back in his chair after a busy day, he took the call of his good friend, "Good Evening Director."

"Good Evening Admiral, I hope you're well?"

"Yes, I'm very well thank you, how is the wife?" The Admiral asks his good friend.

"She's well thank you. How is Mary?"

"She is in high spirits, Chuck is doing remarkably well at Stanford, it's his final year."

"That's great to hear, that's actually why I'm calling."

"Oh?"

"Yes, I'm calling to keep you apprised of Sarah Walker's career in the CIA, per your request."

"Yes, go on?"

"She has just been granted official Agent status."

The Admiral visibly sighed as he sat back in his chair knowing just what that meant. You don't become an 'Agent' in the CIA until your first kill. Prior to that, you're classed as just an employee. Admiral Bartowski knows all to well about CIA protocol, as his wife was a CIA Agent for ten years.

"How did it happen?"

"She was attempting to download information from her targets laptop when he returned to his dormitory and they got into a confrontation. He pulled out a weapon and it was him or herself, she had no other choice. Agent Walker will now be receiving her first overseas posting within the next three months."

The Admiral sighed again once more.

"Do you wish me to proceed as planned?" Director Graham asks the Admiral.

"Yes."

"Can I just ask why Stephen? You know as well as I do how besotted they are with each other."

"I do not want my son anywhere near that life Langston. You know what it did to my relationship with Mary, Chuck deserves better than that life, he deserves somebody who will be home and be there for him at the end of a stressful day. As opposed to a CIA Agent who is five thousand miles away six months of the year, he deserves better than that... Sarah has had months to choose between a life in the CIA or a life with Chuck, and unfortunately for him, she has made her decision. Please proceed with our plan." The Admiral finishes with an enormous sigh.

"Very well." Replied Director Graham, as he terminated the call as he began to proceed ahead with ordering Agent Walker to end her relationship with Chuck Bartowski….

 **A/N** Guys, it's really no use blaming the Admiral and hating him all of a sudden. I've said all story long that Sarah couldn't look at Chuck again the same way ever since she joined the CIA. She didn't want Chuck anywhere near her or the CIA, just like the Admiral didn't want his son anywhere near the CIA as well. They both wanted to protect Chuck from that life. Unfortunately, they both failed and it didn't go how they wanted it to go.

The Admiral gave Sarah months to end her affiliation with the CIA, as he had her under watch with Graham who would often report her progress to him.

The Admiral didn't want his son to join the Navy either, (This is referenced in the second chapter.)

This wasn't just some ploy so Chuck would join the Navy, he wanted Chuck to have a normal life, and only after Chuck joined the Navy did the Admiral realize his mistake.

* * *

 **Next Chapter:** The rescue operation takes place, and we have the aftermath to it. Which is pretty darn funny as I quote a whole lot of Navy Seal movie references.

Please review, thanks.


	18. Hostage Rescue

_Warning; This entire chapter is a combat chapter, and yeah you guessed it, a whole lot of cussing!_

 _This chapter is way too long so I've split it into two parts, so no Charah scene or the hilarious debriefing in this chapter unfortunately. I don't want to throw out a 9k chapter which would have been three times longer than the 3.3k average per chapter in the story so far as I feel that's too big of a commitment on my end when review count for the last chapter was the second lowest of the story so far._

 _Fanfiction is also playing up right now and isn't showing reviews on the review page, but I still receive email confirmation of the reviews, and I read the reviews that way anyway, so please don't let that stop you from reviewing, as I can still read them via email, and they will automatically update themselves onto the actual review page once fanfiction corrects itself some time over the next couple days._

 _I have also attempted to clean up the entire story so far to the best of my ability and have put in the most work on trying to improve my comma's and full stops as that is what I struggle the most with in my stories, so hopefully it looks a bit more polished if you ever read it again._

* * *

Twelve man team for reference;

Lieutenant Commander Chuck 'Chuck Norris' Bartowski – One – Commanding Officer – Breacher- Alpha Assault Team Leader

Lieutenant Morgan 'the Dragon' Grimes – Two – Second in Command – Heavy Weapons Expert – Overwatch

Master Chief James Garcia – Three – Senior Enlisted – Marksman – Overwatch

Chief Daniel Rodriguez – Four – Pointman – EOD – Bravo Assault Team Leader

Chief John Miller – Five – Corpsman – Alpha

First Class Brown – Six – Lead Interrogator – Bravo

Second Class Wilson – Seven – Translator – Bravo

Second Class Walker – Eight – Intelligence Expert – Alpha

Second Class Smith – Nine – Driver (Non Applicable) – Alpha

Third Class Perez – Ten – Radioman – Alpha

Third Class Williamson – Eleven – Lead Diver (Non Applicable) - Bravo

Third Class Kent – Twelve – Surveillance Expert – Bravo

 _The numbers after the Operators names are because each Operator is assigned a number every single operation they partake in, in order of Military ranking from highest priority to lowest, so that radio chatter in the middle of the operation is very organized. This is probably the only battle scene in where I will have this many people involved, as I only want to focus on the core Military characters in this story, which is Chuck, Morgan, the Master Chief, Chief Rodriguez and Chief Miller. I do not want to introduce too many of my own OC characters, as I really do have a hard time writing about them, I struggled with writing about Kate in Love Struck and I became bogged down and had to take a break from that story because of it._

 _Obviously all of the key above is too much to memorize but I'll just leave it there in case it does help you, as I don't want you to be confused throughout the entire chapter, and I'll probably be looking back at the key myself as I write up this coming chapter. So without further ado, it's time for some bad ass Chuck, and a whole lot of bravado, and humour, hopefully?_

* * *

 **Chapter Eighteen**

 **Hostage Rescue**

 **Persian Gulf**

 **Latitude 29.857371 N**

 **Longitude 48.441077 E**

 **On Board Super Six One**

 **Sikorsky SH-60 Seahawk Transport Gunship**

 **Call-sign Frogslegs**

 **23:05 hours**

 **7 September 2006**

Chuck's troop had been in the air for almost thirty minutes now and were more than half way to the British FOB in Basrah. Chuck has been studying the most up-to-date satellite pictures available at 22:40 hours on his communications device.

Chuck suddenly spoke into the communications channel that his troop were on, "Latest satellite feed has managed to pin the three captured aid workers as we had planned and expected in close proximity to one another in the centre building inside the compound. Unchanged number of bodies inside the compound, satellite is still picking up sixteen heat signatures, we are twenty minutes out, I hope you all have your running boots on."

"Are you going to be able to hike the distance in your old age Master Chief? If you want, we could maybe get Dan to carry you." Morgan jokes into the communications channel as laughter erupts on the channel.

"I may have the highest endurance levels on the team but fuck that, he's too heavy. We'll probably need John's stretcher for us both by the time I humped him half way." Chief Rodriguez retorts into the channel earning more laughter.

"You can have the stretcher but I'm not carrying you bastards, Master Chief is too heavy, we'll leave that to Chuck Norris, let him do some graft for once." Chief Miller jokes.

"Cheeky bastard." Said Chuck into comms wishing that his Corpsman was on-board Six One so he could swing for him.

"You bastards are lucky that we are on different birds right now or you would be getting launched out of the Helo to swim with the sharks and sleep with the fishes right about now." Master Chief Garcia retorts.

"Tsk, tsk. Promises, promises." Morgan says into the team's communication channel.

"Commander sir, permission to embark on Super Six Two on the return journey home so I can kick the crap out of these three jokers." Master Chief Garcia asks on comms.

"Permission granted." Chuck laughs out in response, hurt by being assigned stretcher duties.

"Thank you sir!" Master Chief Garcia boasts cheerfully.

"Chuck dont you dare, rescind that order man!" Morgan says into the com channel as he begins to panic.

"You asked for it buddy." Jokes Chuck as the elite SEAL's continue to share laughter.

"Sir, I'd like to offer you my immediate resignation, I no longer wish to be a part of this outfit so if you wouldn't mind, can you please divert Six Two to return to the floating city?" Asks Chief Rodriguez.

"You'll be thrown in the Brig for mutiny." Chuck laughs.

"Anything is better than being on the same bird as that animal." Chief Rodriguez responds.

"Fuckin' ay, I would like to also join you in that action." Chief Miller jokes as the twelve Operators roar with laughter into the com channel causing Chuck to get a nasty but pleasant headache at his men's camaraderie on display.

* * *

 **Five minutes out from British FOB**

"Who's up for a little sing song?" Morgan suddenly disturbed the SEAL's on their communications channel once more as he began to hum to the tune of the Imperial March, quickly followed by every Operator on the three American Gunships as the Pilots, Co Pilots, Gunners and Navy SEAL's alike all began to sing along to the Star Wars Imperial March as Morgan waved his arms around in the air like a lunatic leading the orchestra on board Super Six Two which caused laughter on both Six One and Six Three as they flew side by side as Chuck watched his best friend out of his open door Helo rallying the troops. Morgan was always the tension reliever on Ops as the Elite Team prepared to engage themselves in Combat.

* * *

 **23:25 hours**

The three American Gunships had now just descended into the British FOB and Darth Vader departed from Super Six Two with his trademark breathing sounds being emitted into the communications channel. The two SEAL Squads immediately linked up together as they partook in a final short mission briefing before they departed the base and onto their objective as well as taking the time to adjust themselves to their NVG's that they had all just activated. Every single Operator besides Morgan and the Master Chief all had their suppressed personal assault rifles of choice.

* * *

 **23:30 hours**

"Okay guys, let's roll out." Commands Chuck as the American Special Forces Unit left the British FOB and began their final 10KM hike to the target. Chief Rodriguez was the teams Pointman and also the teams designated EOD (Explosive Ordnance Disposal) and had the troops K-9 War Dog called Lucy with him.

"Don't lead us into an ambush Dan, or a herd of sheep again you fuck." Chief Miller jokes as the entire unit all burst into laughter as they recall that particular sheep incident to themselves.

"Har, har." Chief Rodriguez laughs sarcastically, "Trust you to mention the sheep. What was that, like eighteen months ago? You need to learn to let things go you prick." The Chief jokes as he takes point and the unit begin their hike.

"You sound like the wife." Chief Miller retorts.

"Speaking of wives, when are you marrying Rebecca Dan? You've already given her a child." Master Chief Garcia jokes to one of his best friends.

"If you pay for the wedding Master Chief, I'll marry her as soon as we get home."

"I'm sure we would all be happy to chime in with the cost if it means you finally doing what needs to be done." Says the young Lieutenant Commander.

"Amen to that." All of the SEAL's mutter in agreement with their CO as the unit continue on with their hike.

* * *

 **23:55 hours**

"Ok guys, lets hold up two mikes while I check satellite imagery." Chuck says to his troop as they came to a pause and immediately took up defensive positions.

 **23:57 hours**

"Heads up," Chuck says into his communication channel as the two SEAL Squads all pay attention to their CO.

"There are now seventeen heat signatures inside the compound." Chuck relays the information from the satellite imagery, "I'm picking up five bodies in Building Alpha, with three in Building Bravo and nine in Building Charlie. It appears that the three friendlies are all still in close proximity to one another inside the centre room of Building Charlie."

"Ouch, have to pity that unlucky bastard." Morgan said into comms chuckling as he shook his head referring to the misfortunes of the one guy who had arrived since the satellite imagery had updated itself.

"I fucking hope it's Red Eye!" Master Chief Garcia venomously said on comms.

"Fuckin' ay!" Pretty much all of the SEAL's suddenly said into comms. Chuck's entire troop are holding a vendetta against that bastard who was responsible for the death of three of their brothers when they attempted to capture him back in Ramadi in April.

"If that asshole is inside the compound I want him alive! That fucking bastard has a lot to answer for and you leave him to me personally!" Chuck said with malice into the communications channel.

"Aye sir!" The SEAL's all said with conviction.

Chuck composed himself, and fixed his rifle back into position. "Lead the way Four."

"Aye sir." Said Chief Rodriguez, as he continued to take point navigating the team to their objective.

* * *

 **00:15 hours**

Chuck's elite unit had just arrived inside the centre of Basrah, the roads were empty as there is presently an enforced Military curfew in place at night inside the city after 23:00 hours due to an increased crackdown on insurgent violence.

 **00:23 hours**

Chuck's troop had just been commanded to stop by a column of three British Protected Patrol Vehicles patrolling through the city. Chuck was presently within talking distance of one of the vehicles as the Major in command of the patrol liaised with the American Special Forces Team.

"Major, our call sign is Frogslegs, we're conducting an authorised raid, confirm it with your command." Chuck says patiently to the British Army Major following protocol.

"Sir, we need to get off this fucking street, we're exposed here." Chief Rodriguez the teams Pointman said to his CO.

"Wait two mikes, converge into that alley we just passed while I confirm our Op." The young Commander said to his men who immediately followed the orders of their CO.

 **00:25 hours**

The British Major had just confirmed Chuck's Team's Call Sign with his chain of command.

"You're all good to go, apologies for the inconvenience and attracting unwanted attention to yourselves Commander." The British Major said sincerely to Chuck.

"No problem at all, you guys watch yourselves." Chuck said sincerely.

"Likewise, good hunting." The Major replied, as he shook Chuck's hand before he embarked back into his vehicle as the British column continued on with their patrol of the city.

Chuck and Morgan then entered into a final discussion amongst themselves as the Officers in Command of the Operation as they neared the target location.

As the British column departed out of sight Second Class Smith said to the group of SEAL's who were all presently gathered around each other, "Fucking Brits."

"Hey, knock it off, they have a job to do just as much as ourselves, we could have been anyone!" Senior Enlisted Master Chief Garcia quickly interrupted and ordered his Sailor.

Chuck and Morgan had now just finished their discussion. "Four, lead on." Said Chuck.

"Aye, sir."

* * *

 **00:41 hours**

Chuck's unit has just arrived at the compound six minutes behind schedule and had split off into three separate teams. There would be two assault teams of five and LT Grimes as the teams designated Heavy Weapons Specialist would set up a perimeter with Master Chief Garcia as Marksman as they both set up overwatch. They were both armed with several pieces of ordnance such as a M72 LAW Anti Tank weapon a piece as well as Morgan's M249 SAW Light Machine Gun and the Master Chief's MK 15 Mod 0 SASR .50 Calibre Sniper Rifle with multiple Optical lenses.

LCDR Bartowski in the months after Lieutenant Larkin's death had replaced Bryce as the team's primary Breacher and has recently shifted from being a Primary Marksman to a Support Marksman role, with Master Chief Garcia being designated as the Primary Marksman, a role he held for years prior to Chuck joining the team anyway.

There were three buildings inside the compound and Alpha Team would clear the first, while Bravo Team would simultaneously clear the second with both squads then converging on the final building in the centre which was the location of the captured American aid workers. Chuck will lead Alpha Team which contains his Corpsman Chief Miller as well as Second Class Walker, Second Class Smith and Third Class Perez the teams Radioman.

Chief Rodriguez would head up Bravo which contained First Class Brown the teams designated Interrogator, Second Class Wilson designated Translator, Third Class Kent Surveillance Expert and finally Third Class Williamson.

Every single Operator inside DEVGRU or even a regular SEAL Team for that matter has their own individual expertise, as well as a secondary skill in case anybody on the squad becomes immobilized and are unable to carry out their duties.

The SEAL Team began to take up final assault positions outside the compound.

* * *

 **00:46 hours**

At precisely 00:46 hours, both teams launched simultaneous assaults inside the compound, the insurgents weren't very organized at all as there were no sentries posted and the entire place was deserted, they were probably all asleep in the three buildings in the compound and both Squads quickly converged on the two respective buildings as they prepared to breach and clear the first two buildings.

It was now 00:49 hours and both SEAL Squads were outside their respective objectives and were beginning a countdown to clear the two buildings. At the end of the countdown, which was at 00:50 hours, Chuck immediately deployed a stun grenade into the building and was inside the first room in an instant. Chuck seen two male figures in his field of view who were disorientated trying to figure out what the hell was going on as Chuck continued to advance further into the room. The SEAL's had far superior advantage as they are trained to cancel out the effects of stun grenades and they barely disorientate them whatsoever plus they had their Night Vision Goggles in the pitch black rooms. Chuck immediately dispatched of one of the hostiles inside the room as Chuck's second assaulter Second Class Walker was immediately inside the room after his CO and had the second figure inside the room in his field of view as he fired off several rounds of his personal assault rifle onto the second figure in the first room. After Chuck had dispatched of the first hostile inside the first room, Chuck immediately followed his training protocol and entered into the second of the two rooms inside the building, leaving the second hostile to his second assaulter. There were three more hostiles inside this room as they all had guns around their beds and Rules of Engagement were quite clear, anybody with a gun inside the compound was a hostile and Chuck immediately began to engage everybody inside the room with his number three assaulter Chief Miller closely following into the room after him as he too fired off rounds onto the third target in the room as both SEAL's quickly made short work of the three insurgents in the room.

The first building inside the compound was now clear and the team of five swept and cleared the entire building, making sure there were no places to hide such as a trap door under the floorboards.

The assault on the second building inside the compound played out much the same as the assault on the first building, as Chief Rodriguez breached this building that only had one room with a stun grenade. There were only three hostiles inside this room and as Chief Rodriguez entered, he swept the left side of the room and set his Guard Dog on one of the hostiles while his number two assaulter Second Class Wilson swept the right side, they even managed to subdue and capture one of the hostiles alive, as the third assaulter First Class Brown had grabbed hold of the insurgent that was being attacked by the K9 and Chief Rodriguez sent a blow from his personal assault rifle to the insurgent's head knocking him unconscious. The insurgent was immediately bound and secured and the two assault teams then provided each other with a situation report.

"Four, this is One, five Militants neutralized, how are we looking, any sign of Red Eye?"

"Four here, negative on Red Eye, two Militants neutralized sir, one secured."

"Copy. Two, how we looking?" Chuck asks his XO on overwatch.

"Two here, quiet as a whisper sir, aside from the Master Chief, who just let rip an almighty one."

"One here, should have brought the air freshener, out." Chuck said into comms as all twelve Operators smirked to themselves as they continued to stealthily converge on the final building inside the compound.

"Crap, I knew I forgot something!" Morgan exclaimed to himself and berated himself for forgetting something so important.

Both assault teams had now converged on the final building. The final building was shaped so that there was a single entrance to the building and there were two rooms on the left side of the hallway, with a final door leading to a room on the right side in the centre of the hallway, which contained the teams primary Objective; the three American captured aid workers. Well hopefully, as there was no way to actually confirm it was the three aid workers in question, as Intelligence officials do not have eyes inside the compound, but Intelligence officials were almost certain it would be the three people the team had been sent to extract, as all signs pointed towards that.

While on-board the U.S.S John C Stennis and planning out this Operation, Chuck's assault plans for this final building were two three man teams breaching into the two rooms on the left side of the building, while a single four man team would hopefully be left to breach the final room simultaneously.

The crack Special Forces Unit had just made silent entry into the final building and were taking up their assault formation as they waited for the CO to give the command to assault.

 **Two minutes later.**

Chuck begins to whisper into his communications channel the final countdown process, "Standby," "Ready," "Execute."

On receiving the command from their CO, all of the Operators immediately simultaneously assaulted the three rooms inside the building, with Chuck being the first Operator inside the main room of focus. As Chuck entered the room, he could see the three American aid workers tied to chairs in the middle of the room, he quickly cancelled them out as a threat to him as time slowed dramatically as Chuck's insane reaction times allowed him to slow everything down as his eyes focused around what else was inside the room. Darting his glance around the room, Chuck seen two guards holding onto AK47 assault rifles in close proximity to the three American hostages. Chuck immediately shifted his body to aim his assault rifle at the first insurgent, firing off several rounds before immediately shifting his focus towards the second insurgent, they were still disorientated from the stun grenade deployed and Chuck had neutralized both insurgents in mere seconds as two more SEAL assaulter's immediately came in behind Chuck and swept left to right as they secured the room. Assessing the room and happy that this particular room was clear, Chuck communicated the situation on the teams communication channel, "One clear."

"Four clear."

"Six clear."

"Building secure." Replied Chuck instantly after the call had came through that all three rooms in the building were clear.

Happy that the compound was now secure, Chuck's focus immediately shifted over to assessment and the clean up operation as the SEAL's would now begin to Intelligence gather, reinforce their position and attend to the aid workers as they prepared for extraction.

The three American aid workers were still struggling to overcome the effects of the stun grenades when Chuck approached them.

Chuck immediately made a quick assessment over all three of them for wounds or any explosive device attached to them. Satisfied with his initial assessment, Chuck continued, "We're American Special Forces, and we're here to get you out." He says calm and composed to the three American captives.

"I'll have my Corpsman look you all over, and then First Class Brown here will need to ask each of you one specific question each. We need to confirm who you are, is that okay?" Chuck asks in the same tone he had used previously as he nods in the direction of his Interrogator First Class Brown.

"Yes, that's fine, thank you so much!" The female aid worker said emotionally.

Chuck nodded his head at them, before he then shifted his attention to Commanding and Organizing the clean-up Operation. "Five, take a look over the three aid workers."

"Aye sir." Replied Chief Miller as he adjusted the strap of his assault rifle over his shoulder as he began to attend to the aid workers.

"Six, once Five is finished, get to work on the identity questions."

"Aye sir." Replied First Class Brown

"Eleven, bring that capture out from Building Bravo into Building Charlie and Six once you're finished with the aid workers I want you to get to work on finding out anything that can be of use to us. Seven, help him out with that, I seriously doubt the fucker speaks English."

"Aye sir." Third Class Williamson, Second Class Wilson and First Class brown all replied as they got to work on their tasks.

"Twelve, start taking the pictures of every neutralized."

"Aye sir." Third Class Kent replied.

"Eight, Nine, I need you to tear this compound apart, grab every piece of physical intel you can get your hands on. Hard drives, paper work, the whole shebang. Ten, radio in to command, inform them all three packages are safely secure plus one capture for intel. Once you're finished link up with Eight and Nine and help them gather."

"Aye sir." Replied Second Class Walker, Second Class Smith and Third Class Perez as the Operators all got to work on their tasking.

"Two, how we looking?" Chuck asks his XO on overwatch.

"Two here, all clear baby." Replies Morgan.

"Four here sir, no tasking for me? I'm deeply offended." Chief Rodriguez jokes.

"You've earned yourself a rest, great job on leading us here, no sheep this time either." Chuck laughs as the whole team burst into laughter.

"Not you as well sir!" Chief Rodriguez shakes his head at his CO disapprovingly as he chuckles away.

 **Several minutes later**

First Class Brown had confirmed that the three aid workers were in fact the very same people they had been sent to extract. Chief Miller had also attended to the minor wounds of the aid workers, which were some minor burns and some small signs of torture. The three aid workers were no longer bound. Third Class Kent had began taking high quality pictures of every insurgent neutralized as a form of Intelligence gathering for Navy Intelligence and the CIA back on the warship. Third Class Perez had radioed back in to Command on board the U.S.S John C Stennis that their mission was a success and they were on schedule to extract at the pre arranged time. First Class Brown and Second Class Wilson were beginning their interrogation of the captured insurgent. Chuck and the freed aid workers were still in the same room of the building that they were rescued from and Chuck had briefly explained to the three aid workers that they could not disclose to anybody what had occurred here, and they would be made to sign non disclosure agreements when back aboard the warship. The rescued aid workers had absolutely no problems at all with that, they owed Chuck's team their lives, all three of them were very emotional right now, one more than the others as the female aid worker ran to Chuck and hugged him and kissed him.

"Thank you so much!" The freed American aid worker Kate Myers said to Chuck as she hugged and kissed him.

"You don't have to thank us, it's our job." Chuck said sincerely.

"Well thank you anyway." Both of the males said as they shook Chuck's hand and Chief Miller's and Chief Rodriguez's.

"Guys, just so you know, Miss Myers just kissed the CO and made him blush." Chief Miller joked into comms.

"I'll be informing Agent Walker in due course that somebody is after her man." Chief Rodriguez joked into comms causing the channel to erupt with laughter.

 **Several minutes later**

The SEAL Team were in their final stages of their tasking before preparing to extract when Morgan's voice appeared on the team's communication channel.

"Sir, we might have a bit of a problem here, two vehicles have just pulled up outside the compound, looks like an unknown is preparing to exit the first vehicle to open the main gate."

"One here, don't do anything stupid Two." Chuck warns his XO.

"Sir, you know me, would I do something like that?" Morgan replies with a slight chuckle into the channel causing more laughter from the whole SEAL Team.

"Yes, I know you..." Chuck said that part off comms which caused both Chief's Rodriguez and Miller to laugh as they were in the immediate vicinity of their CO.

 **30 Seconds later**

Lieutenant Commander Bartowski, Chief's Miller and Rodriguez and the three rescued American aid workers were still inside the building when Chuck immediately heard the distinct sound of a burst of AK47 gunfire, quickly followed by a rapid burst of a distinct M249 SAW quickly followed by the distinct sound of a .50 calibre ripping through the air as the quiet night in Basrah quickly turned into Beirut as Chuck began to hear more bursts from other AK47's.

The three aid workers immediately began to panic on hearing the noises, while the ten SEAL's inside the compound all began to get excited.

"Commander Bartowski, what is happening!" They asked frightened.

Chuck attempted to calm the aid workers by speaking calmly, "I'm sure it's nothing to worry about, that's actually our Heavy Weapons Specialist." He finished with a bit of venom to both the room and into comms pissed off that the whole city has probably just been woken up, the last thing they wanted was insurgents taking shots at them when they were trying to extract four objectives.

Everybody inside the compound were then further disturbed by the distinct sound of an M72 LAW Anti Tank weapon connecting with something that exploded into a huge fireball just outside the compound as the aid workers and the ten SEAL's all looked towards the main gate of the compound as an explosion suddenly filled the air.

"FUCKING MORGAN!" Chuck exclaimed into the room he was presently inside and into the communications channel.

"That's going to wake up the neighbors!" Chief Miller jokes excitedly as the sound and sights of an explosion suddenly rips through the air.

"What the hell was that!" The aid workers all exclaimed petrified.

"That was an Anti Tank weapon, used by our Heavy Weapons Specialist up to no good!" He exclaimed once more into the room and into the communications channel.

"Um sir, that was actually the Master Chief, not me." Morgan laughs back into comms.

"You fucking snitch!" Said Master Chief Garcia on comms.

"Sit rep Two?" Chuck commands.

"We're having a bit of a party sir, you should join us, it's your kind of party Chuck Norris."

Chuck laughs, "I'm fine where I am thanks, I've had more than enough of a party already." Says Chuck with a bit of distaste to his voice at what he had already done inside the compound.

"How many confirmed did you get sir?" Morgan asks while in the middle of a gun battle with insurgent assholes.

After several seconds of not answering, and sensing that his CO wasn't about to, Chief Miller interjects, "He got five. I tried to snatch some of them in Building Alpha but the beautiful bastard was too fast for me." The Chief jokes.

"Fuckin' ay, sir!" Master Chief Garcia says with pride to his CO as he fires off a headshot at an insurgent with his high calibered sniper rifle who was stupid enough to show his face to the Senior Enlisted Marksman.

"Boo ya! Nice shot Master Chief!" Morgan says proud of his Senior Enlisted.

"You fucking bet it was sir, now can we stop with the too old jokes!" The Master Chief replies to his LT.

Chuck could only shake his head sighing to himself before he spoke, "Okay guys, we could quickly end up in a dangerous situation here. Ten, call in the birds we need to extract, NOW." Commands Chuck.

"Aye sir." Replied Third Class Perez as he made contact with the Hawk's on standby at the British FOB.

"Ten minutes out sir." Third Class Perez said after about a minute.

Meanwhile, outside the compound.. "Hey Three, how about a bet? The one who finishes with the most kills receives fifty bucks from the loser?" Morgan said to his Senior Enlisted

"Make it one hundred and you're on." Replied the Master Chief.

"Deal." Said Morgan, as he prepared his own M72 LAW Anti Tank weapon and fired it at the second vehicle that was outside the compound causing it to explode as a second explosion then ripped through the air of the now war zone that the Master Chief, Morgan and the insurgents were causing all by themselves.

"Sir, now that one was me!" Morgan boasted cheerfully chuckling away into comms as he returned to his M249 Light Machine Gun and continued to fire off rounds and engage with militant assholes outside the compound that had arrived in the two vehicles. The Master Chief likewise, was firing off .50 calibre rounds from his Sniper Rifle into the blown out cars that him and his LT had just blown up…

* * *

 **01:25 hours; five minutes until extraction**

The fire fight outside the compound had just ended as the Master Chief and Morgan had neutralized seven insurgents between themselves. A large crowd had begun to gather in the immediate vicinity of the compound and the same British column that had stopped them an hour previously had just arrived onto the street of the compound. The British column this time however now had an Apache Gunship on overwatch which was now hovering over the compound that the SEAL's had just assaulted as the British Convoy pulled up near the position of Morgan and the Master Chief on overwatch.

"We have been tasked to assist in any way you require." The Major says to Lieutenant Grimes.

"Thank you sir, we sure could use a cordon right now to keep those unidentified's that are gathering at bay." Morgan says as he points to the crowd in the immediate vicinity of the compound that had begun to gather to investigate the sound of gunfire that erupted in the previously peaceful city that was now replaced by the sounds of sporadic gunfire, explosions and now a British Apache Gunship hovering overhead.

"Sure, we can help you chaps out with that." The Major says. "Right lads, lets get that perimeter set up around the compound for our American friends." The Major orders to his men as the three British Patrol Vehicles begin to spread out and form a defensive perimeter.

"Now it's their turn to be late for a war." Morgan chuckles to his Master Chief who smirks in response.

"One this is Two, a Brit Patrol Convoy has arrived outside compound, you're safe to extract from the compound, over. Oh, you should probably also get Ten to inform the Helo's of an Apache Gunship in their AO, if you haven't already sir."

"Two this is One, copy, out."

"Okay guys, lets pack it up and get out of here!" Chuck shouts to his men who were rounding off the finishing touches to their extremely successful operation.

The SEAL's all began to pack it up and quickly escorted the captured insurgent and the freed American workers to the two Hawk's that had now landed where the team had deployed Red Smoke Grenade's and they quickly boarded onto the Helo's to begin their journey back U.S.S John C Stennis for a debriefing and much needed rest...

Next Chapter: A hilarious debriefing and some hot sweet Charah scenes.


	19. I Love You

Firstly, a thousand thank you's to everybody who chose to leave a review for 17 and 18. I'm actually struggling with the story right now, and absolutely need that extra motivation to continue going, but more on that later in the A/N

I just watched some clips of Manhattan Night starring Yvonne earlier and I felt ill. As a die hard Charah shipper, I can't imagine Yvonne/Sarah being with anybody except Chuck. Ughh, I still feel physically ill after watching those clips, does anybody feel the same as me, in regards to that?

I initially intended this chapter to be 50% fun 50% Charah but then as I got to work on this chapter a few days ago, I sensed an opening for something far more powerful than just humour. And this chapter has now turned into an 8k monstrosity, so I'm expecting you to reward my hard work, by leaving me some delicious reviews of feedback (as this the biggest chapter I've done to date, in any of my stories, not just this one.) There's still some funny scenes in the debriefing though, as I want to use some of my most favorite quotes from the movie 'Navy Seals' so props to that. The rest of this chapter however, is very much HOT, SWEET CHARAH! I'm also trying out a few new writing styles in this chapter, so leave a review, let me know what you think. The past two chapters have had eight and seven reviews respectively, the lowest of the story. I get that people mostly just want to see Charah in Chuck fictions, but Chuck and Sarah do not have equal jobs in this story, not even close unfortunately. I didn't realize my mistake until I had started the story, and it's too late to change things now, but I'm really struggling to write about Sarah's job because it really is BORING. Sarah's job in this story is just a bit part role and just like the title says, I'm writing about a Navy War Hero. So I'm struggling to come up with ANY ideas on how I can incorporate the life of an intelligence gatherer (who is effectively just an analyst) which in Chuck terms, is somebody who would just stay in the van, with the other half being a special forces soldier. And I can't just write out Chuck's mission then show the aftermath, because clearly not enough of you like seeing Chuck going on missions, so I'm stumped… Hindsight is a wonderful thing and looking back at this story now, I wish I would have had Sarah as an actual member of the same troop as Chuck or something, that way plot would have involved the two core characters, as opposed to just one but then the story wouldn't have been about Redemption, so idk…..

But yeah, if this chapter isn't that well received, then I don't even know what happens next… I'll probably take a few weeks break to try to re motivate or something, I have no idea. Because I'm not going to lie, I'm feeling pretty demoralized right now, with review count halving despite view count actually bizarrely increasing, coupled with finding it hard to mix Sarah into Chuck's job. Please don't tell me to just be happy for viewers though, I get upset when people say that. I honestly do not care how many views any of my stories get. I publish fanfiction purely for interactive purposes, I like to communicate with fellow Chucksters and the people I'm attempting to tell the story to. I would MUCH sooner have just say 10-15 interactive viewers than five hundred silent viewers, every single day of the week for me, that's not even a contest.. If I didn't want the interaction I would probably just attempt to write a novel and publish it all in one go, and I suppose when you look at it like that, every single fanfic author wants interaction to an extent, though obviously some are happy with less than others, we all have our own perception on what we deem is either the right balance, too much, or too little… But enough complaining, time to enjoy this chapter, as I'm going to say right now, this is my most favorite chapter I have ever done to date.

Word count for this chapter; 8128

Disclaimer: If I owned Chuck, it would be a HBO show.

 **Chapter Nineteen**

 **I Love You**

 **On-board U.S.S John C Stennis**

 **8 September 2006**

 **02:20 hours**

Chuck's troop, the rescued American aid workers and the captured insurgent had just touched down onto the Flight Deck of the John C Stennis and the SEAL's plus four departed the Seahawk gunships.

Chuck's troop immediately formed into a huddle on departing the helicopters as the CO began to pass praise over to his men, "Amazing job out there tonight guys, I'm proud of every single one of you." Said Chuck as the troop began to perform a celebratory ritual with each other before Chuck began to personally push the captured insurgent in the direction of the waiting posse of military personnel. Chuck could see the Admiral as well as the CAG who was waiting to debrief his Pilots, as well as Navy Intelligence figures who would be debriefing Chuck's troop, as well as the Chief Master-at-Arms of the ship who was also the Brig Officer. The Chief Master at Arms was also accompanied by two Marine Guards waiting for their captured prisoner, and there were also several Marines waiting to escort the three rescued American aid workers for their own debriefing which would also include waiting Military Counsellors who would help them through any possible trauma they might have. And the last person Chuck saw waiting on the flight deck was Sarah, and out of all the people on the flight deck right now, Chuck couldn't help but continue to gaze at her as Chuck and his team began to edge closer towards the waiting group. If Chuck wasn't on the middle of a warship right now and on duty as a Navy Officer, he would probably run up to Sarah and kiss her senseless right now, as he needs to feel the touch and the warmth and the comfort of her, more than anything. After a grueling rescue mission in where Chuck had personally killed five people, and seen violence all around him, Chuck feels like being sick. Just like Chuck remembers being sick when back inside his quarters after the first few times he had taken a life, but he was too seasoned for that to happen any more, he just has to live with the nightmares and the torment…

Chuck and his SEAL Team had now just arrived within close proximity to the posse that were on the Flight Deck waiting for them and he launched the captured insurgent out of his grip and into the waiting arms of the Chief Master-at-Arms "This one's for you Chief." Said Chuck.

"Aye sir, thank you sir." The Chief Master-at-Arms said to Chuck as he began to escort the captured insurgent to the Brig.

"Brilliant job out there Commander, very efficient." The Admiral said with pride to his young son.

"Aye sir, thank you Admiral." Chuck said nodding his head to accept his fathers praise.

"Get yourselves some needed chow, then report for debriefing at 03:00 hours, dismissed." Said the Admiral, as the posse began to disband to go about doing their own tasks.

Chuck then started to walk closer to Sarah, and as he did, his mind began to race back in time. Chuck wished he could just go back in time right now and erase everything that had happened the past seven years. Chuck wishes he could be back with Sarah inside their apartment in Burbank that Sarah and himself used to share together. Chuck wishes he would have asked Sarah to marry him before she had joined the CIA, maybe that way she never would have left him, and maybe they would have had a small family by now, maybe run a successful business together, like they had planned. Neither Chuck or Sarah had completed their studies. Sarah in the past two weeks that they have been on speaking terms again had told Chuck in one of several conversations they have shared that she also left Stanford before graduating and was posted to Istanbul at a CIA station in the city.

But rather than all of the above playing out, here they both were right now on-board an aircraft carrier more than seven thousand miles away from Los Angeles, after Chuck had just been sent on a rescue operation which involved killing five insurgents, and the truth is that it's killing him inside. Chuck doesn't know how much longer he can continue to put on his bravado face in front of his men before he bursts. Chuck would die before he put any of his men in harms way or in danger. And a distracted soldier makes mistakes and for that reason alone, Chuck owes it to every single man under his command to remain absolute. If Chuck starts to become disillusioned and starts to second guess why he is here, he might one day accidentally forget to check his angle, or hesitate to pull the trigger on a militant for that one split second longer than necessary, which allows that insurgent to either kill one of his team members or an innocent bystander, or he might let a suicide bomber walk into a crowd of people and blow himself up, rather than taking the shot when he was in the open and not a threat to anybody. If you become distracted in Chuck's line of work either you are dead, or your teammates are dead, or innocent civilians are dead, so Chuck has to put EVERYTHING to the back of his mind while he is on a mission, he can't go and assault a compound and have his thoughts and emotions about taking a life at the forefront of his mind, or he can't think about being at his sisters wedding as he walks into a building and forgets to check for a trip mine and it explodes and blows Chuck into a million pieces. Ultimately, distractions and hesitations in Chuck's line of work gets people killed… And it was too late now, he had already signed up and was tied into the Navy for at least a few more years. But if Chuck had not joined the Navy, he might never have met Sarah ever again. 'Everything that has happened the past seven years, was it all worth it, just to be with her again?' Chuck asks himself, and only time will tell the answer to that question…

As Chuck began to edge closer towards Sarah, Sarah's heart began to flutter more and more. Sarah has never seen anything more intimidating in her life than the elite Special Forces unit walking right towards her dressed in full combat gear with enough weapons to fight a small war. If Sarah didn't know who these guys were, she would probably pass out in fear right now. Despite knowing that it's Chuck coming towards her and wouldn't let anybody ever hurt her, Sarah still feels extremely intimidated right now.

Aside from how intimidating Chuck and his small army look, Sarah is experiencing all kinds of emotions right now. There is quite literally a mix of almost every single emotion that the human mind experiences running through Sarah's head at this moment. However, ecstasy, that's the single most important emotion running through Sarah's mind right now. Sarah is more relieved right now than she's ever been in her life, because Chuck is safe. 'But is he safe?' Sarah suddenly asks herself. 'Who's to say he's not going to be called out onto another mission and his helicopter gets blown up, or a bomb explodes and he's caught in the middle of it?' Sarah begins to feel physically sick at that thought. Sarah continues to gaze at Chuck, as he walks closer and closer towards her as Sarah's mind continues to race with thoughts. Sarah wants to run and close the slight gap to Chuck, and kiss him senseless, and to whisper comfortingly that everything will be okay as they nestle in each others warmth. Because despite how battle hardened and intimidating Chuck looks right now to Sarah, he's still the same guy that she fell for back in college. No matter how many years that have passed and however many missions Chuck may have been on and the things that he has been forced to do in his line of work, it must all be severely impacting his mental state of mind. Chuck wasn't the kind of guy that took pleasure out of hurting others. Throughout the entire four years that Sarah had been with Chuck, he did nothing but help every single person around him. And even now, despite Chuck being what he is, he's still helping people. 'Sure, Chuck kills people, but it's not exactly like he's a murderer whose sole intention is to kill because he enjoys it. If Chuck doesn't do what he does, then other people get hurt by the people he is sent to stop. Chuck is just following his orders. Chuck is a hero, he's my hero.' Sarah tells herself as her eyes begin to sparkle radiantly as she continues to gaze at him.

Chuck had now arrived in touching distance of Sarah and her beauty was intoxicating. Sarah was wearing a business suit jacket and skirt and her hair was tied up. Just looking at Sarah alone was enough to remove most of the torment running through Chuck's mind. And as Chuck arrived within touching distance of Sarah, he noticed her eyes were sparkling, and he reached his arm to touch her shoulder, feeling the warmth of her in the form of a spark that he feels whenever his body is in contact with hers.

"Is everything okay?" Chuck asks as his hand landed on Sarah's shoulder while looking into her eyes sporting her a comforting smile.

'Not really, if I hadn't been such a coward, we would have been married right now, started our own business together like we had planned, probably had two to three children, and we would be in bed together this very moment snuggled up together right now after an evening of making love, but here we are instead….' Sarah berates herself inside her head.

"You're back safe, that's all that matters Chuck." Sarah says with a heartfelt and sincere tone before changing to a more soothing and caring tone "Are you okay?" Sarah asks as they continue to burn a gaze through one another as Sarah wants to bury herself in his arms but there's too many military people around and she doesn't want Chuck to get into any trouble. So Sarah just touches Chuck's arm affectionately with her hand, Sarah is not even sure if that action alone is breaking any regulations but military be dammed they can at least give her this as Sarah loves this man FAR more than she's ever loved anything else in her life and wants FAR more than to just touch arms with him.

"Yeah, just tired, pretty intense operation. I need to eat then sleep for a week." Chuck says as he laughs.

Sarah laughs, "How do you sleep with all this noise Chuck?" Sarah asks as she motions her head towards one of the Hornets preparing to be launched off the side of the carrier from the steam catapult.

"To tell you the truth, I don't get much." Chuck says humorously as Sarah begins to laugh again while beaming a radiant smile at him, still elated that he's back safely from his mission.

"I'll see you at the debriefing." Chuck says with a final smile to Sarah as he reluctantly departs with his men for the mess hall.

* * *

 **03:00** **h** **ours**

Chuck's troop were now inside their Ready Room that has been assigned to them while they are on-board the Aircraft Carrier and all twelve of the operators that had taken part in the operation were inside, as well as several Intelligence Officers waiting to debrief the SEAL Team. Sarah was also on hand, as the CIA Liaison she would also have to write up her reports from the debriefing. All of the SEAL Team were exhausted and wanted nothing more than to be back at their berthing area right now after an exhausting mission.

Chuck as the Commanding Officer of the assault was the first to be debriefed about the assault on the compound by Navy Intelligence as their helmet cam footage also began to play out onto the monitors as Chuck gave a walk through of his actions in the objective area.

"I breached Building Alpha as Alpha Team Leader and immediately engaged one hostile. I then shifted my focus to the second room as Second Class Walker my number two assaulter was immediately in behind me and engaged the second insurgent in the first room. As I entered into the second room I became aware of the hostiles having weapons at their bedsides, I immediately engaged all three hostiles inside the room with my number three assaulter Chief Miller quickly following in behind who engaged the final hostile inside the second room. All five hostiles in Building Alpha were neutralized and we swept and cleared and then linked up with Bravo Team to assault the final building inside the compound. Arriving inside Building Charlie, I ordered my team to simultaneously breach the final three rooms, and as I assaulted the final room, I had the three American aid workers in my field of view in the centre of the room, I quickly dismissed them as a threat as my focus shifted to two hostiles in my sight holding assault rifles near to the primary objectives, I immediately engaged both targets as my other two assault teams cleared the other two rooms inside the building." Chuck said in a calm and organized manner.

"Fourteen enemy combatants in the compound alone and you only leave one alive? Couldn't you have subdued any combatants in Building Alpha?" One of the Navy Intelligence personnel asked Chuck pretty distastefully for Chuck's liking as Chuck snapped.

"Hey! As far as I'm concerned, I would have been happy for all fourteen hostiles to be KIA! Our primary objective was to rescue those three hostages! And all it would have taken would have been for one of those assholes to fire off his rifle or let out a scream loud enough and the three innocent American aid workers would have been shot to pieces. You're lucky we even brought you back one!" Chuck said defensively, pissed that people were trying to second guess his tactical decisions. For Chuck, this mission was a total success and his only regret was from a selfish point of view on how many people he had to kill.

"Fuckin' ay!" Most of his team backed Chuck up in total agreement with their CO.

"So you had five confirmed?" Another intelligence official asked Chuck as Navy Intelligence continued to write up their reports as Sarah listened in intently.

"It would appear so..." Chuck replied without any emotion, keeping his cards held close to his chest, not wanting to show any sign of weakness to the twenty plus figures inside the room, otherwise he would probably be benched for some sort of psychiatric evaluation tests. Chuck wasn't going to sit here and hold his head in his hands and cry out like a little baby wailing 'I killed five people.' Chuck glanced at Sarah, his face still shut off from displaying a single emotion, as if he were a robot and Sarah's heart began to palpitate and she suddenly lost her breath… Sarah could only visibly gasp as she fell short of air and she felt very weak at her knees as one of the monitors in the Ready Room showed the assault from Chuck's perspective and Sarah couldn't take her eyes off of the screen as Chuck began to engage the insurgents. As Chuck entered into the second room of Building Alpha and began to light up those three insurgents Sarah couldn't watch any more of what was being shown on the monitor. What Sarah had just seen on that screen, it smashed her heart and soul into a million pieces. Her soul mate and lover, her Chuck, an assassin. Seeing her Chuck involved in such disgustingly brutal acts of violence, no matter how honest his intentions were, seeing him do something like that has just ripped out Sarah's soul and she needs to vomit repeatedly and has to leave this room this instant as she darted for the door as her emotions completely overwhelmed her...

* * *

It was then Morgan and the Master Chief's turn as Two and Three to be debriefed.

"Arriving at the compound, we set up overwatch as our two assault teams hit the compound. After the operation inside the compound was over, and the clean up operation had begun inside the compound, the Master Chief and myself had eyes on two Sedan's arriving outside the compound. The Master Chief had eyes on the side passenger with an AK47 in his near proximity and I immediately shouted out a warning to them and the cheeky fucker began to fire off rounds at us. That's when the shit hit the fan." Morgan and the Master Chief chuckled cheerfully as they recalled their engagement.

"You engaged hostiles?" An intelligence figure asked the LT and the Master Chief.

"We vaporized hostiles." Morgan and the Master Chief said in unison while nodding their heads approvingly.

"That we did baby." Said Morgan as the Master Chief and himself fist bumped each other, causing all of the SEAL's inside the room except Chuck to laugh approvingly.

The Master Chief and Morgan then proceeded to explain in vivid detail their six minute engagement, it also turned out that the Master Chief had managed to get four confirmed so Morgan would have to pay up one hundred bucks, as he only had three. 'I regret making that stupid bet now...' Morgan said to himself.

Chief Rodriguez had now just given his version of events on how his assault team had managed to subdue one hostile and neutralize the other two inside Building Bravo before he then assaulted one of the three rooms inside Building Charlie.

It was now Chief Miller's turn as the teams Corpsman to give his version of events. "After securing the compound, I attended to the injuries of the three hostages and helped them out of their states of shock that all three were in. The hostages had suffered minor burns and some small signs of torture."

"Did you fire your weapon?"

"Fuckin' ay!" Chief Miller said as he began to laugh at that silly question before noticing the disapproving looks he was was getting from the Navy Intelligence Commander debriefing him "sir." he finished as he had forgot to respect the Commander.

It was now Second Class Walker's turn to be debriefed who was the Team's primary Intelligence gatherer.

"There were no other documents in the compound?" He was asked.

"I got everything in the rooms."

"Everything?"

"Everything but the onions." Second Class Walker retorted, causing laughter from his best friend Third Class Perez who was seated next to him.

* * *

 **03:40 hours**

The debriefing had now ended and the elite SEAL Team had all retired to their living quarters. Lieutenant Commander Bartowski arrived inside his small cabin which contained a desk, a bed, a washing area and that was pretty much everything inside his cabin. Chuck immediately went to the bathing sink to bathe his face as he still felt physically ill. Chuck then took the next several minutes attempting to relax and unwind though unsuccessfully as everything that had happened on the mission began to race through his mind and began to torment him and cause him deep distress.

* * *

 **03:55 hours**

Chuck was still attempting to unsuccessfully shake off the torment bothering him which wasn't easy when you also factor in the incredibly noisy sounds of the steam catapult firing through the ship and Hornets landing onto the Carrier. The aftermath to an operation is always the hardest part for Chuck. Chuck is always calm and collected when under fire and has faced some very difficult situations throughout his Naval Career in the teams so far, and he has never faltered in any situation he has faced, but as soon as he gets back to wherever his base may be, whether that be a submarine, or in country or like right now, on board an aircraft carrier, the aftermath of a mission that involves combat always torments him for days, right up until he is sent on his next one, it's a never ending circle that keeps repeating itself over and over and over...

When Chuck was younger, his father was away many months of the year as a Naval Officer, and for the first eight years of Chuck's life, his mother likewise was away a lot, all Chuck really had when he was young was his older sister, until his mother returned home permanently. Chuck was raised by his mother and sister to respect and to help and to care for living beings, so the act of taking a life isn't something that Chuck will ever learn to just accept, despite his chosen career path.

Chuck was disturbed from his deep thoughts when he heard a knock on the door of his quarters. Checking his watch, it read 03:55 hours, Chuck walked to his door and opened it, wondering who it could possibly be at this hour of the morning.

On opening the door, Chuck's face instantly turned to shock, "Sarah… You shouldn't be here.." Chuck says soothingly as he quickly steps outside his cabin to glance around outside his quarters to make sure that nobody had seen her arrive at his cabin.

"I'm sorry." Sarah replied with a large portion of emotion attached to her voice as she wiped her eye with one hand.

At the debriefing, Chuck seen Sarah run off and he immediately wanted to follow her but there was absolutely no way that would have been possible and he had tried to find her after the debriefing but she was nowhere to be found. Chuck even contemplated going to Sarah's cabin to see if she was okay but that would be a serious breach of protocol as ship regulations are very strict and he's a Naval Officer, it's his responsibility to lead his men by example, he's supposed to be a role model and it wouldn't be very advised to break rules and regulations whenever he fancied, though he was SERIOUSLY tempted to do just that, as he wanted to make sure she was okay, but here she was right now...

"Come in." Chuck says sincerely as he ushered Sarah into his cabin.

As soon as Chuck had shut the door to his cabin and had turned around, Sarah immediately hugged into him and wrapped her arms around him with her hands landing up on his shoulders as she buried herself into his warmth. Chuck was initially shocked, as he has never done anything like this before on a warship, but there's a first time for everything and Chuck immediately returned the action, as he hugged tighter into Sarah and wrapped both of his manly, hairy arms around her perfect, thin, petite frame as their heads connected against each other and they both closed their eyes. Chuck had to admit, this felt nothing short of amazing, as every single ounce of tension in his body immediately gave way the second Sarah melted into his body, all the distress and torment in his mind forgotten and replaced with thoughts about Sarah, happy thoughts and sad thoughts as he needed to find out what was distressing her. They stayed buried in the warmth of each other for several minutes before Chuck pulled back and Sarah groaned at the loss of contact. Chuck also removed his arms from around Sarah once more causing groans from Sarah which quickly turned into moans of delight as he cupped her face with his hands, "What's wrong Sarah?" Chuck asks as he looks into her eyes which immediately become glossy again as they had looked when she first arrived outside his cabin.

"I've never felt like this before Chuck… Seeing you fly away earlier I felt so broken and empty and scared.." Sarah pauses, as her eyes continue to water and she moves her hand to wipe her eye, "And then when you came back, the joy I felt to have you back safe, I wanted to run to you and hold you so tightly..Such a contrasting wave of emotions.." Sarah laughs, as she pauses again, still trying to fight back her glossy eyes by wiping them. Sarah then continues further, her voice now sounding pretty broken and weak "And then watching that video, of you doing all those things, I feel sick inside Chuck..." Sarah says as she has to fight off the urge to vomit again once more.

"I'm sorry you had to see that." Chuck says sincerely as he looks into her eyes and strokes her hair.

"I'm not upset because of what I had to see Chuck... I'm upset because of the things they make you do..." Sarah says as she returns the motion of stroking his face, her eyes still glossy.

"Sarah, I'm fine," Chuck tries to say convincingly as he comfortingly rubs her arm but he isn't convincing enough to Sarah as she can read right through him regardless of her CIA psychological training she could always tell when he was holding something back from her.

"Chuck, you were never a very good liar, you can talk to me you know, I'm here just to listen if you want to talk about what happened tonight." Sarah says affectionately, her eyes still glossy as she burns a gaze through his eyes, wanting him to open up to her so she could immediately begin to comfort and help him.

"Sarah… I can't..." Chuck admits as he takes hold of her hand, "Sarah before I met you again, for years I've held everything that I've seen and done close to me, I can't just let go, I don't know how to let go Sarah, I don't know who or what I am any more." Chuck says as he gazes blankly into Sarah's eyes.

"Talking is overrated any way Chuck." Sarah suddenly says as she pulls Chuck further inside his cabin away from the door.

"Sarah, what are you d-" Chuck pauses as he is interrupted by Sarah mid sentence as she puts her finger onto his lips to quiet him.

* * *

Several minutes later

"Oh my god," Chuck moans in ecstasy, his eyes closed in delight.

"Sarah,"

"You're amazing,"

"Sarah, the last time anybody did this was you." Chuck says in delight at the amazing touch of Sarah.

Sarah giggles, as she continues to help release the tension of her boyfriend.

"I'm glad to hear it." Sarah whispers which causes Chuck to shiver as she begins to plant several kisses on his face before returning to her action as Sarah's eyes light up, elated that nobody else had ever been blessed with being able to be intimate with him. For so many years Sarah has enviously hated the thought of Chuck ever opening up to another woman in the years she has been without him. Most days in all the years that passed Sarah has loathed the thought of Chuck possibly expressing his love to another woman, it just didn't sit right with her. For Sarah, Chuck should only belong to one woman, herself.

"Ohh Sarah you don't know how good this feels." Says Chuck as every part of his previously tense body already feels relaxed.

"I hope you know I don't just do this for anybody." Sarah pauses to whisper.

"Lucky me then." Chuck says with a huge grin.

Sarah giggles, as she continues to rub and affectionately squeeze on the shoulders of Chuck from where she had sat him down minutes previously on his desk chair as she continues to massage his upper body just like she used to do so many years ago after a stressful day of studies, he always loved it back then, and she knew it would help release his tension and if he didn't want to talk to her about what had happened then she was damn sure she was going to find another way to help him vent instead. And Sarah already has several ideas of things that they can maybe both get up to in the not too distant future that will help him release even more tension than he presently is...

* * *

A few minutes later

Sarah was now sitting on Chuck's lap and they were kissing pretty intensely, it's an extremely safe bet to assume that whenever Sarah is around Chuck, she is always going to get turned on very fast, as she's longed for the man whose lap she's sitting on for almost seven excruciatingly long years. So when Chuck hadn't resisted her advances so far, Sarah couldn't help but attempt to continue to test the waters further and further, until he told her to stop, because if he didn't tell her to stop, Sarah was prepared and ready right now to consolidate their relationship in the most intimate of ways possible. Sarah is longing and yearning to have the touch and feel of Chuck all over her again, but she doesn't want to push him away from her again either, so as soon as he tells her to stop, she will, albeit reluctantly, as she's prepared to wait as long as it takes until Chuck is ready to make love to her again, and unfortunately, it looks like Chuck is about to tell her to stop, as he had just grabbed her hand when she had attempted to make a move towards his crotch. Sarah immediately frowned but she wasn't going to attempt to rush him again, it didn't end very well last time at his apartment just before they deployed and she doesn't want them to become awkward again. Besides, if she tries and pushes too hard Chuck might not agree to what she is about to ask next...

Taking a moment to attempt to regain her breath and compose herself after the heated make out, Sarah gathers her thoughts.

"Can I stay with you Chuck, please?" Sarah asks, giving him a puppy eyed look, still sitting on his lap not wanting to move, still adamant that she never wants to leave his arms or his close proximity ever again. Each day that goes by without Chuck making love to her, Sarah regrets more and more the manner in which she left him, he might have forgiven her for leaving, but its unfortunately clear to her that he doesn't trust her to not just leave him again. It's going to take weeks or months for Sarah to earn Chuck's trust again, 'Hopefully weeks' Sarah thinks, as she's not sure she can go months without feeling him inside her, she's already about to explode just by thinking about it, so when it actually happens, Sarah is pretty darn sure that the intensity of it is going to be on a scale she's never experienced with him before. Sarah involuntarily licks her lips at the thought. Sarah then instantly makes an attempt to remove herself from how she was sitting on his lap, though frowning at the immediate loss of his body warmth, but sitting on his thighs wasn't a very good idea right now as she was already on fire and she needs to extinguish her flames before she scares him away again.

It had been a few seconds since Sarah had asked Chuck if she could stay with him, and his brain was contemplating the scenario, and the potential risks of him allowing her to. Sensing the look of conflict on Chuck's face, and that he was about to speak and probably tell her no, Sarah took his hold of his hand with hers and continued on "Chuck I promise I will not try to push you into something you aren't ready for. I agreed to take things slow with you and we will take this as slow as you need. I don't want to rush you, if I come on too heavy just let me know, just don't shut me out again, I just want to be around you, so please Chuck?" Sarah pleads with Chuck, their hands still connected.

Chuck sighs, as they continue to burn a gaze through one another, neither of them shifting away their focus or breaking eye contact. "Sarah.. It would be breaking several Navy regulations." Chuck says apologetically as Sarah's face immediately begins to fill with disappointment as Sarah begins to frown and huff as she starts to sulk and act like a child being refused something they wanted from their parents.

Sensing the extreme look of disappointment on Sarah's face, and the look inside her eyes, Chuck was unable to say no to her. 'That infectious look will be the death of me'

"But screw it, you know what? I've done enough for the Navy." Chuck jokes as Sarah's face immediately begins to fill with joy and she giggles harder than she ever has and buries herself back in Chuck's arms again. "Oh thank you so much Chuck!" Sarah says joyously as she kisses him lovingly on his lips while in a deep feeling of ecstasy.

"Just don't tell anybody about this Sarah or I will deny it then kill you." Chuck laughs.

Sarah gives Chuck a huge grin as she takes Chuck's hand to help him stand before she begins to push Chuck backwards until he lands on the bed and she quickly lands onto him, once more becoming extremely turned on as soon as she had began to straddle him but she quickly has to dismiss it, or he might tell her to leave. "Our secret then." Sarah says as she begins to kiss him, before moving to spoon into him as she snuggles every single inch of her body into him as close as physically possible.

"This feels like heaven Sarah."

"I couldn't agree more Chuck." Says Sarah with a huge grin as she feels Chuck's body against hers and his warm breath against her neck flesh.

Chuck then decided to do something that almost caused Sarah to explode, as he kissed the sweet spot on her neck and Sarah gasped in delight, Sarah hadn't felt anybody do that to her in nearly seven years.

"Please don't do that again Chuck," 'BABY PLEASE DO THAT AGAIN!' Sarah begged to herself "I'm already finding it soooooooo hard to stay composed Chuck. You have noooooooooooo idea how much I want you right now." Sarah warns as she backs her hips into Chuck's groin area which causes Chuck's body temperature to rise by one million percent at the sudden suggestive contact. 'And if you kiss me again, I'm going to show you how much I want you' Sarah continues to think to herself.

"Oh, sorry." Chuck says sincerely as he moves his head away from close proximity of Sarah's neck to find another place for it to rest.

"Please don't move your head either Chuck, keep it in my hair or something, just not the neck." 'PLEASE PUT IT BACK THERE!' Sarah begs herself.

"Goodnight Chuck." Sarah says sleepily.

"Goodnight Sarah." Chuck replies in the same tone as the two reconciling lovers fall into a slumber.

* * *

2 hours later

Sarah had just been disturbed awake from her amazing sleep, she quickly checks behind her to see if Chuck is still there as this is actually only the second time they've slept together in six years and seven months.

Chuck unfortunately however, wasn't spooning into Sarah any more, as he was now turned away from her and facing the wall. Chuck's body was jerking slightly and Sarah turned her body so she could face him and prop herself up onto her elbow to allow herself to look at his eyes. The last time they slept in the same bed together, on their emotional reunion, Chuck had a nightmare then also, only this time it seemed to be more ferocious. Sarah ran her hand through his hair as her heart fluttered and her breath shortened. Sarah attempted to use the touch of her body to soothe him for the next few minutes by running her hands and leg over his frame soothingly. She continued to attempt to ease his distress for several minutes but she was unsuccessful and Sarah started to get worried because he wasn't settling, Sarah decided on her next course of action and she leaned over him to attempt to plant a loving kiss onto his cheek and what happened next, scared the living hell out of Sarah as Chuck immediately jolted awake when Sarah leaned over and put weight onto him and he grabbed hold of her pretty violently as he pinned her arms in a death grip as he screamed "I'll kill you Red Eye you bastard!" He screamed as Sarah immediately gasped in shock and fear. Chuck was leaning over Sarah now and had pinned her as he had locked her arms in a death grip which hurt like hell as tears formed in Sarah's eyes at the distress and hostility from her lover.

"Chuck, it's Sarah, baby come back to me." Sarah says as she cries, tears flowing through her eyes

Chuck immediately snapped out of his deathly glare and instantly let go of his death grip on Sarah as his face began to fill with shock and disbelief and fear that he could do something like that to Sarah, his angel, the woman who he would die before he let anything happen to.

Chuck quickly darted from the bed and put as much distance away from Sarah as possible for fear of him doing anything else to her, he doesn't trust himself any more around her which caused Sarah to frown at the loss of the warmth of his body close to hers. Sarah also heard him say the name Red Eye again, the commander of an insurgent terrorist cell responsible for a large portion of violence inside Iraq but now was not the time for those questions, Sarah made an instant mental note to find out what Morgan knows about Red Eye's connection to Chuck. If Morgan really wanted to make up for that iou that Sarah had aggressively pulled him over, then he would make it up to Sarah by telling her everything she now needs to know about Red Eye and Chuck in due course.

'But now back to more pressing matters, caring for my baby.' Sarah tells herself with tears still flowing in her eyes.

Sarah immediately darted from the bed and ran over to where Chuck was hunched up into a ball against a wall of his cabin.

Sarah strokes his hair and buried herself into his shoulder, hugging him tightly.

"Chuck, baby are you okay?" Sarah asks while nestled into his frame.

"Sarah forget about me I'm not important. Are you okay? Sarah I'm so sorry this is a bad idea, I'm dangerous and you shouldn't be around me." Chuck says as he tries to get up out of Sarah's grip but she pins him back down and hugs into him even tighter.

"Chuck…" Sarah tries to speak but Chuck interrupts her again so she silences herself.

"Oh my god, Sarah I thought my dream was real, that I was being tortured, feeling you next to me must have done something to my subconscious state of mind. Sarah I'm so sorry." He says as he moves her face out from resting on his shoulder as he cups her face with his hands as tears fall down his eyes.

"Chuck its okay baby, it's my fault, I shouldn't have tried to disturb you while you were sleeping."

"No Sarah, it's not your fault, you should probably leave, I would never hurt you and I don't trust myself any more after what I just did." Chuck says with his eyes still watery because of what he had just done to his Sarah.

Sarah cups his face, and kisses his cheek in the spot where she seen a tear floating down his cheek "Chuck, I'm going NOWHERE!" Sarah says vehemently before continuing further with an immense attachment of conviction "You would need every single man on board this ship to take me away from you Chuck." Sarah says with her eyes also glossy "And even then I would still fight through every single one of them just to get back to you!" Sarah says as she hugs into him again.

"I made the biggest mistake of my life leaving you once Chuck, and I'm going to spend the rest of my life making it up to you." She strengthens her grip around him once more, and plants several loving kisses on his face.

Glancing at the time on Chuck's watch on his arm several minutes later, Sarah became aware that they had only been asleep for two hours.

"Let's go back to bed Chuck." Sarah says undeterred from what Chuck had done to her minutes previously. It didn't even enter Sarah's mind as she had already stood up and was attempting to pull him up from where he was sitting but he was still being resistant.

"I'm not sure tha-" Chuck was interrupted by Sarah "Chuck, I'm not asking you, I'm telling you, we're going back to bed." Sarah says in a tone that made even a battle hardened Navy SEAL crap his pants as she squeezes hold of his shoulder to pull him up, and it wasn't some light pull either, it was a death grip leaving him no option but to either follow her or his arm would probably snap.

"Sarah you're so scary when you use that tone you know that right?" Chuck says incredulously as Sarah pauses on tugging on his arm to sport him a satisfactory grin "I'm glad that it had its desired effect Chuck." she says.

Sarah this time quickly climbs onto the bed first and leads him onto it next to her. This time it's Sarah's turn to spoon Chuck as she forms protectively around her very exposed and vulnerable soul mate right now. Sarah wraps her leg over his, and lands her arm protectively around his chest, her hand can't help but find its way up his shirt as she touches the area of his heart and she kisses into his hair over and over and over again to soothe him.

"Go back to sleep baby, you're safe with me Chuck. I will never let anything hurt you again Chuck. I will die before I hurt you again and anything or anybody that wants to do you harm will have to get through me first." Sarah says powerfully into his hair as she continues to affectionately kiss him.

"Did I ever tell you how attractive and scary you are when you're protective." Chuck says while grinning.

"I think you might have mentioned it." Sarah laughs, before turning serious "I love you Chuck." Sarah says powerfully into his head as she continues to spoon and soothe him with her hands and lips.

"Sarah… -" Chuck was interrupted by Sarah's hand finding its way up from where it was previously inside Chuck's shirt as she landed a finger onto his lip "Sssh.. You don't need to say anything baby, just relax and let me look after you." Sarah continues to whisper with her head resting just behind his.

"I have always loved you Chuck. The instant I set eyes on you on that tour ten years ago I knew I had to have you, you big doofus." Sarah laughs as she plants another kiss into his hair. "You're mine, whether you like it or not you will only ever be mine." Sarah says, her tone full of conviction as she continues to soothe her world laying in front of her.

"How did I get so lucky." Chuck grins as every part of his body feels even more relaxed than when they had first attempted to go to sleep together a few hours previously. Sarah continues to lay just behind him, basking in an afterglow as she continues to rub circles on Chuck's chest with her hand while continuing to plant kiss after kiss after kiss onto her soul mate until he fell back asleep safely in the comfort of her arms...

Well that's all for today folks, until next time, whenever that will be… Please review, thanks.


	20. The Calm Before The Storm

Hi, how are we all? All good I hope?

I'm not, I just started to watch clips of Season Five on youtube, bad idea. I've now entered into a state of depression once more :x

I have recently just started to read some Chuck fictions again, and I have been trying to search for a story that I remember reading mid 2012. It was a story that had Chuck in the Navy (No, I wasn't inspired by that lol, the Intersect doesn't make any appearance in my story) and he was having the Intersect uploaded into him, with Sarah and Casey assigned to his protection. Does anybody remember this story? I think it got abandoned but I remember one particular scene of it involving Zondra and they were off the coast of Yemen or somewhere close and then the story was abandoned at that point.. It was one of my favorite Chuck fictions but I can't find it anywhere, does anybody know if it's still around and I'm blind, or what happened to it?

Again, a thousand thank you's to every single reviewer, I can't reply to guest reviews, so this is in particular for every single guest reviewer, THANK YOU!

Marking the 20th chapter, I'd like to pay special mention in no particular order to wilf21, Mufc87, Carmichael Jr, phnxgirl, Garnetflint You guys are all legends, you have reviewed every single chapter even though you didn't like some of them, which really does help me, massively. Reviews don't have to be positive, they can absolutely be negative, so long as they're submitted in a respectful manner, I've absolutely no problems at all with that, they help me just as much as positive ones do.

*Edit* I kind of pressed the finger on the trigger too fast on this chapter, and didn't consult any of my 150k+ notes in reserve for this story, and I missed the opportunity to include in a few scenes that I had planned for this chapter, so it's probably worth checking over this chapter a few times if you ever get the time, as there might be a fresh scene or two when I wake up and revise through my notes (I'm at the point now where I have taken way too many notes to skim through them all, lol)

Word count for this chapter: 5690

* * *

 **Chapter Twenty**

 **The Calm Before The Storm**

 **Baghdad, Iraq**

 **FOB Midnight**

 **Special Forces/ CIA Base**

 **22 September 2006**

 **22:00 Hours**

Chuck's elite SEAL troop have been inside their main base of operations in Baghdad for three days now, their two week deployment on the John C Stennis was over, as Red Squadron had taken back over responsibilities of special operations conducted from the warship and Chuck's teams mission had now officially begun, as they aim to tackle the insurgency and hunt out and capture/kill high value targets and shut down insurgent cells, as well as responding to any live situation they're needed for in the immediate vicinity. Chuck and Sarah had also officially begun to liaise manpower with Captain Cole Barker's British SAS troop, who were presently out conducting a special forces raid, based off of information provided to them by Sarah. Sarah had received information from a low level insurgent fighter who she had managed to turn of a safe house and the commander of the informants cell would supposedly be present at it this evening, his cell were responsible for several bombings and a couple of shootings in the capital.

Chuck's troop have been designated as the quick reaction force (QRF) in case Cole's team run into any complications and need reinforcements and as such, Chuck's team were dressed in combat gear and had their weapons and gear on hand waiting for the call to deploy.

All of the team were presently gathered inside one of several recreational buldings on the base and were watching Star Wars – The Empire Strikes Back on a big projector, Sarah included. Sarah and Chuck were continuing to attempt to build up their relationship and rekindle despite the difficult situations of their jobs as building up a relationship in the middle of a war zone isn't exactly a typical place to have a blossoming relationship, at least in the opinion of Chuck. In the two weeks that have passed since Sarah's emotional arrival at Chuck's cabin, and everything else that followed, they had only slept in the same bed one more time, and it was after another mission and Chuck had came back, he tried to tell Sarah that he really was fine as it was not a combat mission, his team had just been sent to intercept and seize control of a cargo ship that was behaving suspiciously and once Chuck's team had taken over the ship, the EOD and search teams moved in and took over responsibilities from the SEAL's who extracted back onto the warship.

Sarah of course, wanted to stay with Chuck every single night and had attempted to stay with him the following night after Chuck's rescue operation but he had told her it was too risky, as much as he enjoyed her being around him it would have set a bad example to his men if they were to be caught, and he would face disciplinary actions, he told her to be patient with him and as soon as they got into Baghdad, it would be much easier as rules and regulations were completely different on shore.

The elite Operators and Sarah were all still enjoying themselves with tonight's entertainment when suddenly, pagers all began to go off left, right and centre around the room, leading to immediate loud groans of frustration from the operators as they all stood up and the room suddenly got very noisy. "HELL NO!" Morgan yelled lividly as he shook his head, adamant that this was not part of the plan. "Fucking Brits man! Just as the best parts to the movie were about to happen! Guys screw helping them, let's kill them instead!" Morgan says to a frustrated bunch of SEAL's which causes laughter amongst the team as they collect their weapons and body armour.

"Is that an order sir?" Chief Miller jokes.

"You dam well bet it is, you have my authorisation to slaughter every single one of them. NOBODY INTERRUPTS STAR WARS AND LIVES TO TELL THE TALE!" Morgan laughed as the guys all quickly began to flood out of the room to gear up and head to the waiting Black Hawk's on standby provided by SOAR (Special Operations Aviation Regiment) Night Stalkers.

"Sorry." Chuck mouthed to Sarah as he left her side from where they were sitting together as Chuck quickly followed his men out of the room as he darted for the bases main situation room to find out what was going down leaving Sarah to stand up in shock at the sudden turn of events as her evening quickly turned from being a peaceful one as she spent time with her lover to being one that has her feeling significantly distressed as she began to feel sick in her stomach once more just like when she first seen him fly away into combat two weeks ago.

Arriving inside the main Situation Room several moments later, Chuck was immediately briefed by the Duty Officer in charge of this evening's operations.

"What have we got sir?" Chuck asked the Colonel in charge of the Situation Room.

"SAS team are involved in a serious contact, there is a much bigger insurgent presence than we had anticipated. The SAS are coming under fire from at least four different locations." The duty officer reported to Chuck as Chuck studied live footage on the monitors inside the situation room of Cole's counter insurgency team involved in a heavy firefight.

"We have any friendly casualties?" Chuck asked as he began to adjust all of his own gear just like his men had done.

"Two wounded, as you can see the team have had to take up defensive positions and are coming under some serious small arms fire."

"No problem, we'll get them out." Chuck says confidently.

"Good luck Commander."

"Aye sir." Chuck nods as he turns to leave the situation room to head to the waiting helicopters. Arriving outside the situation room, he bumped into Sarah, who had a look of worry on her face.

"Chuck, be careful." Sarah says as she begins to worry about the only person in her life who means anything and everything to her.

"I always am." Says Chuck as he gives her a brief comforting smile and a reassuring rub of her shoulder before hastily heading to meet up with his XO Lieutenant Grimes who was waiting half way between the Helo's and the Situation Room to be briefed by his CO.

Sarah had now arrived inside the Situation Room and was looking at the monitors and she could see Cole's team involved in a serious firefight and she suddenly felt even more sick than she had felt just previously.

'Please be careful Chuck.' Sarah kept repeating to herself as she continued to study the helmet cam and satellite overview footage on screen.

"What have we got sir?" Morgan asks Chuck as the two brothers in arms walk and talk as they head towards the gunships.

"Brits have ran in to a serious contact. They have two injured and there's a much bigger insurgent presence than we anticipated. They're coming under fire from four different locations. You lead the second squad, I'll take the first."

"Aye sir." Replied Morgan as they separated for different gunships.

Chuck and Morgan had now just boarded onto their respective gunships and Chuck began to brief his SEAL Team as the Night Stalkers ascended the Hawk's to head to the location of the British Special Forces team under fire.

* * *

15 minutes later

"Callsign Sierra this is Lima, we're overhead in your vicinity, what is the situation on the ground?" Chuck asks on the frequency that the British team were operating on.

"This is Sierra, situation is FUBAR. We're still pinned down, we have two wounded troopers. We have two captures, one is our primary target and a secondary low level fighter. We've neutralized six and have pinpointed around a dozen fighters in buildings south, east and west of us." Cole replied as his team continued to return fire with insurgents who had them pinned down.

"Copy, we're preparing to fast rope and will advance from the north and western quadrants, out."

"Good luck squids." The Night Stalkers said to Chuck's team as the two squads began to fast rope out of the Helo's to head to relieve Cole's pinned down team.

The SEAL Team were now on the ground in a suburb on the outskirts of Baghdad where tonight's raid was taking place. The two teams began to advance in formation towards the pinned down British unit.

"Two this is One, we're on the south western corner of the square, we see the British team. There's a lot of muzzle fire coming from the east and southern buildings.

"One this is Two, copy that we see you. We're on the most north western side. ROE sir?"

"Leave five of your squad to return fire onto that eastern building and provide cover for the Brits to clear that section, send five of your guys to check the western most building right in the middle of us, there doesn't seem to be any activity from there but contact was reported from one of those buildings on the western side. They might be kia, they might have scarpered when they heard the choppers but they might still be in there. I'll take first squad to clear the southern quadrant, out."

"Copy, out."

"Sierra this is Lima, we're on the south western corner do you have us in your sights?"

"Roger that, we see your infrared markings."

"We're going to lay down some fire on the eastern building where muzzle fire is coming from, do you think you can get a couple of your guys over there to clear the building?"

"I'm sure we can manage that, out."

"Copy that, I'll have my guys hit the western and southern buildings, out."

The three special forces teams all went about their duties and quickly cleared out the three buildings where Cole's team had came under fire from when carrying out their raid of the main apartment block in question.

The American reinforcements quickly cleared the area where Cole's team were being attacked from and most of the insurgents had fled when the American unit began to return fire on them. The British and American special forces units had now managed to secure the area from militant attack and a Coalition and Iraqi rapid reaction force arrived in the district to further secure the area and to restore order and to thwart off any further would be attackers so the special forces team could begin to extract.

The American and British units linked up together as they waited for extraction.

"This is the third war we've saved your asses in." Morgan jokes to Cole's 2IC.

"Aye, thanks mate." The Jock replies graciously while nodding his head before retorting further banter "At least you weren't late for this one." He says which causes Morgan to laugh as they shake hands.

* * *

FOB Midnight

The two Coalition special forces units had just touched down onto the Helipads of their main base of operations and two SAS troopers began to escort their two captures to the low level detention facility on their base. Two injured SAS soldiers and one frogman remained on board one of the Black Hawk's as they would be flown to a military hospital to recover from their injuries sustained while the rest of the Coalition troops began to head to the situation room for a debriefing of this evening's raid.

Chuck and Cole as the Commanding Officers, colleagues and friends stopped to engage in a conversation amongst themselves.

"Close call out there, what went wrong?" Chuck asked as curiosity got the better of him.

"They were waiting for us. Looks like Agent Walker got played by her informant, well either that or they deliberately fed him false information." Cole said as he shook his head pissed that his men walked into an ambush.

"Sneaky bastards." Replied Chuck as he paused to also shake his head before he began to attempt to defend Sarah as he was certain her intentions were honest "These things happen though, that's the kind of war we're fighting. At least you didn't lose any guys and managed to capture the fucker." Said Chuck.

"Oh I'm in complete agreement Chuck, these things happen, nobody is to blame, what can you do?" Cole said as he sighed and used his hands to emphasize his point.

"Yeah…" Chuck sighed.

It appears that the remaining five British SAS troopers that weren't occupied didn't share the same sentiments that their CO did and they were pissed at the faulty intelligence which caused two of their comrades to get injured and they stormed in to the situation room to demand answers from Sarah.

"THANKS FOR THE SOFT TARGET!" One of them yelled into Sarah's face as they surrounded Sarah in a hostile manner and aggressively demanded answers from her. As expected, their American counterparts quickly leapt to the defence of Sarah, as they knew that their CO was involved romantically with her, which meant that Sarah was one of their own and the frogmen always protect their own and things quickly turned sour inside the situation room as tempers flared and a brawl quickly threatened to erupt as the American and British special forces units got nose to nose with each other as remarks were exchanged between the two elite units.

Meanwhile, outside the situation room, the two CO's and friends were finishing off their conversation when they began to hear commotion inside the situation room as tempers flared.

"We can't leave them alone for two minutes can we?" Chuck said as he sighed and shook his head disapprovingly.

"Apparently not." Cole replied as the two CO's rushed in to the situation room to restore order before the MP's on the base were called out.

Chuck and Cole immediately got between the American sailors on one side who were standing protectively in front of Sarah and the angry British soldiers on the opposite side as the two CO's began to restore order and stop their angry men fighting with each other.

"WHAT THE FUCK GUYS!" They both yelled at their men as they pushed them further apart from each other before people lost their heads.

* * *

Several minutes later

Tempers had now cooled inside the situation room as the adrenalin in their bodies after being involved in a firefight began to dissipate.

"I'm sorry Captain, I swear I had no idea, he gave us zero reason to doubt his credibility." Sarah said sincerely and apologetically to Cole as Chuck, Cole and Sarah shared a civilized discussion.

"Don't sweat over it love, we can't all be right one hundred percent of the time. Your primary intelligence was good as the commander was at the safe house, maybe they knew your guy had turned and they played him to bait us there." Cole said reassuringly to the attractive American CIA Agent.

"That's actually a real possibility." Chuck concurred with his British counter part.

"Well all the same, I can assure you that I will find out and if I find out he played us, he will regret he was born." Sarah said with a scowl on her face.

"I would like apologize to you both for my men's behaviour after you just bailed us out Chuck." Cole said sincerely.

"No apologies necessary, my men were just as bad, it's just built up adrenalin." Chuck replied as he shook Cole's hand.

"Well I bid you both a good night." Cole said as he departed and left Sarah and Chuck alone in one of the corners of the situation room.

"Chuck, I heard Third Class Perez got hit I'm really sorry." Sarah said sincerely.

"Thanks, but Sarah you really don't need to apologize, your intel was good." Chuck said reassuringly to her as he attempted to ease her conscience.

Sensing that Sarah was still distressed, Chuck leant in to whisper something to Sarah which immediately caused a huge smile to erupt on her face.

Thirty minutes later

Sarah had just arrived at the door of Chuck's quarters as he had whispered to her to meet him in thirty minutes among other things and here she was as she knocked on the door and Chuck quickly answered and ushered her in. As soon as Sarah arrived inside, Chuck hugged her and Sarah immediately melted into him as a large portion of her tension began to disperse and she sighed deeply in delight from the effects of his touch.

Several moments later

"You don't know how much I needed this Chuck." Sarah says while still in the deep embrace of her boyfriend.

"I thought as much." Chuck replied as he grinned away.

"You really shouldn't stress over today Sarah, there's nothing you could have done differently." Chuck said reassuringly as he played with Sarah's hair and burned a soothing gaze into her eyes.

"I should have questioned the information more before I presented it." Sarah replies while continuing to be disappointed with her intel.

"Sarah it's most likely that what the informant told you he honestly believed to have been true, you said he was a low level operative, he wouldn't have had much access." Chuck replied reassuringly.

"You're probably right." Sarah said as she sighed deeply as she was still uneasy with the subject.

"No, I am right." Chuck says confidently. "Now come here." He says as he pulls her back into an embrace once more and turns his head sideways to kiss her hair as his arms began to comfortingly rub on Sarah's back.

"Wow Sarah, you feel so tense." Chuck laughs as he feels the tension in Sarah's body.

Sarah grins into Chuck's shoulder.

"I am." Sarah replies truthfully.

"You know what, you did it for me, now I'm going to do it for you." Chuck says as he pulls her back to look into her eyes. "Why don't you let me give you a massage?"

'THAT IS AN AMAZING IDEA!' Sarah tells herself as thoughts immediately enter her mind of having Chuck's hands all over her. "I'm not sure that's a good idea Chuck." Sarah replied as dangerous thoughts continued to race through her mind of having Chuck's magical hands all over her. Sarah wasn't sure that once Chuck started to touch her, she would be able to tell him to stop.

"Nonsense, I'm not taking no for an answer." Chuck says as he leaves Sarah's close proximity "Wait right there, I'll be right back." he says as he leaves for the second room inside his quarters.

Sarah sighs deeply for a moment before she begins to start removing her clothes until she was down to just her underwear set as she briefly contemplated removing those also with a smirk but ultimately deciding against it as she moved to lay on the bed inside the first room and rested her head into a pillow.

Chuck returned minutes later whistling away and as he entered into the room, he looked in the proximity of where Sarah was laying and he dropped the bottle of oil and the sheet he had in his hands as his hands quickly moved to cover his face to stop his eyes from gaping.

"MY EYES! I'M BLIND! Sarah what the hell! You could have told me you were getting undressed!" Chuck managed to breathe out.

Sarah snorted with laughter.

"Chuck, baby you've seen me naked hundreds of times you don't need to be shy I don't bite, well maybe I do but only a little." Sarah giggled hard, satisfied with the reaction from her boyfriend.

"Sarah you really do want to kill me don't you? I'm dying here." Chuck says as he can't help but sneak several glances through his hands 'OH MY GOD! THIS WOMAN IS THE ONE TRUE GODDESS! SHE HAS AGED REMARKABLY IN SIX YEARS! SHE IS A THOUSAND TIMES MORE BEAUTIFUL!' Chuck's mind began to tell itself.

"Chuck, it was your idea, not mine." Sarah retorted as she laughed away happily satisfied with herself, and his reaction.

"Touché." Chuck replied in agreement, she did have a point...

Breathing in a deep sigh, Chuck then looked at the floor to pick up the dropped items.

Several minutes later

Chuck was now massaging Sarah's lower back occasionally planting kisses onto the top of her head and working his way up the pressure points, and Sarah becoming increasingly aroused as moans and groans escaped her lips into the pillow, every part of her body was relaxing into the touch of her erotic boyfriend. His hands and his touch were exactly how she remembered them to be. Actually, they were infinitely more powerful as his muscle growth all over his body made his touch that much more vigorous. Chuck had now reached the area of her bra with his hands and Sarah's arousal levels immediately tripled.

"Sarah, is it okay if I remove this?" Chuck asks.

"Yes." Sarah moans in delight. "I just wish you were doing it in different circumstances." Sarah can't help but add in with a grin on her face as she feels her lovers hands suddenly freeze in place. 'This isn't the scenario I have imagined you removing one in the years that have passed since you last did' Sarah thinks to herself.

'THINK JABBA THE HUTT CHUCK, THINK JABBA THE HUTT!' Chuck screamed to himself to attempt to distract himself from the situation they were presently in coupled with Sarah's previous choice of words.

Chuck quickly unclasped Sarah's bra and Sarah sighed pleasurably into the pillow as his hands replaced where it was previously.

Chuck continued to massage her upper and lower back for several more minutes and Sarah was super close to a climax right now, just like she used to have almost every time he used to massage her after a stressful day.

"Oh my god." Sarah moans pleasurably into the pillow as she scratches her hands into the bed as she can feel an orgasm quickly coming along.

'JABBA THE HUTT IS NOT WORKING ANY MORE!' Chuck screamed to himself as his mind began to think of thoughts to distract himself from listening to Sarah's pretty lustful moans 'I know just the thing to think of' Chuck thought to himself as he began to think of Pudge, who was one his favorite Dota heroes from college.

'OH, MUCH BETTER!' Chuck screamed to himself.

"Why don't I crack your neck, you used to love that." Chuck suggests as he prepares to do said action.

'YES!' Sarah screamed to herself as she knew that would drive her over the edge to the fast approaching orgasm.

"NO!" Sarah snapped in response as she darted out from under his grip taking the sheet with her as she darted up from the bed like a bomb had exploded.

"Sarah, what the hell? what did I do? what did I say? You loved it when I cracked your neck?" Chuck asks as he kneels on the bed gob smacked as Sarah darted from the bed like a bomb just went off in it.

"Chuck, unless this massage ends with sex which unfortunately I highly doubt it does, then you need to stop RIGHT NOW! Do you remember what used to happen whenever you would give me a massage baby?" Sarah asks as she attempted to restore her breathing to a normal level, feeling incredibly aroused as she stood inside Chuck's quarters with nothing but a sheet wrapped around her.

Chuck immediately blushed and his face turned beet red. "What, were you close?" Chuck asks incredulously.

"Yes." Sarah replies sheepishly which makes Chuck's face turn even more crimson.

"Sorry." Chuck says flustered as he knew Sarah was enjoying it but he didn't think she was close to a climax like she used to.

Sensing that her boyfriend was very flustered right now and coupled with how sexually aroused she was, Sarah saw this moment as an ideal situation to attempt to initiate intimacy once more as she moved back to the bed as Chuck backed further onto it from where he was kneeling as Sarah landed in a provocative posture on all fours with nothing but a sheet over her as Chuck gulped.

"Um.. Sarah, can you um, stop um, posing like that?" Chuck asks extremely flustered.

"I'm not sure Chuck, I quite like it." Sarah grins as she seductively glances at him.

"Do you like it?" Sarah then asks mischievously, knowing that the position she's currently in used to be their favorite love making position.

"Yes, that's um, that's kind of the um, the problem." Chuck manages to trip out barely.

"It's no problem Chuck." Sarah says sweetly. "I could lose the sheet if you want me to?" Sarah says as she starts removing the sheet from around her.

"Don't you dare!" Chuck says as he covers his face with his hand.

"I'm not sure Chuck, I'm already extremely aroused thanks to you. I mean the least I can do is return the favour." Sarah says as she comes within touching distance of Chuck briefly, until he returns the motion of darting off of the bed like a bomb exploded on it, causing Sarah to frown briefly before she proceeds to collapse onto her back to lay on the bed, still threatening to remove the sheet from around her to expose herself to him.

"Sarah, please you're killing me here, what will it take to stop this onslaught?" Chuck asks with his head still in his hands as he musters what little self control he has left to avoid looking at Sarah who was doing all kinds of sexually provoking things with her hands and body as she showed her legs from out of the sheet.

"I get to stay with you tonight, and you're the big spoon."

"Okay, a reasonable enough compromise." Chuck agrees to her demands.

"I'm not done," Sarah pauses to laugh, "And you don't wear a shirt."

"Ok now you're pushing it." Chuck says with his hands still covering his face.

"I'm still not done." Sarah giggles once more, "And you don't wear any pants."

"Sarah, am I going to be in any clothes?" Chuck sighs in defeat.

"Just your underwear." Sarah says with a huge smirk now present on her face.

"What if I say no?"

"Then I'm afraid that the sheet is going to have to come off right now Chuck, you already have me feeling very hot." Sarah snickers at her joke.

"You're the devil!"

"That's why you love me, right?" Sarah says as she laughs.

"Okay, fine." Chuck sighs in resignation.

"Do we have a deal?"

"Yes, you win." Chuck says in defeat.

"I always do Chuck." Sarah laughs as she cozied into his bed.

"Can you at least put your bra back on Sarah so I can maybe remove my hands from my face?" Chuck begs.

"Okay, but nothing else." Sarah says as she smirks in response.

"What, you're going to sleep in your underwear also?" Chuck asks as he narrows his eyes at the revelation.

"Chuck, it's too late to renegotiate the deal, you already agreed to it. So go to the other room while I put my bra back on and then lets go to bed, unless you want to stay here and watch me, which of course I'm more than happy to put on a show for you if you want." Sarah deadpanned as she immediately began to sit up to look for her bra as she's not afraid in the slightest bit of expressing intimacy with the man she loves more than anything.

"I'm going!" Chuck says as he quickly leaves the room causing Sarah to smirk once more at the effect she has on her boyfriend. Hopefully it wouldn't be too much longer before they were making love again, as Sarah is starting to get very antsy as it has been six weeks since she set eyes on him again.

Several minutes later

Sarah and Chuck were now in bed together snuggled up almost naked, save from underwear.

Sarah turned from where Chuck was spooning her and she and began to kiss Chuck passionately, as her hands began to roam all over his body and a lust quickly built up inside of Sarah. Unfortunately, she could tell that Chuck still wasn't as invested in the act as she was, and she had to stop herself extremely reluctantly and rolled off him to put some distance between themselves as she began to frown and sulk.

"Sarah I'm sorry, I don't want to lead you on any more than I already have."

Having not had an answer from Sarah and with her still turned away from him, Chuck continued "When we you know… Um, you know.." Chuck pauses to cough as he begins to get embarrassed and can't get out his words which causes a grin to form on Sarah's face at her lovers blushes. "I want it to be perfect for us." Chuck says honestly.

Sarah turns to face Chuck again once more.

"Chuck I can't say that I'm not disappointed, by the end of the first week of us being together in college, we were lovers. And it has been six weeks, granted the first two weeks were pretty awkward." Sarah says as she smirks.

"It's kind of different this time though Sarah." Chuck says with a serious tone to his voice. "Please just give me a bit more time, I don't want to make love in the middle of a war, it just feels wrong Sarah. I'm already breaking rules just by letting you here and I don't want our relationship to be based on releasing tension, I want to make love not vent out my frustrations." Chuck sighed.

Sarah continued to gaze at her soul mate and seen the sincerity in his face. "I get that Chuck, like I said I'm not sorry for trying as I'm ready and want you right now... I don't give a crap about the circumstances and situation that we're in, but I'll wait until you're ready because what other choice do I have?" Sarah sighed for a long moment until her sexual arousal dissipated.

After a long moment of silence, Sarah spoke again "I'm cold." She says as she moves back in his direction and Chuck immediately wraps his arms around her and she snuggles into him and they connect their feet together just like they always used to do and Sarah quickly falls asleep into the chest and embrace of Chuck.

 **Next Chapter: Five days later**

"Yeah, run away Sarah! You're good at that!" Chuck yelled after Sarah, who immediately paused as she turned back to glare coldly at Chuck, the impact of his words evident on her face.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean that!" Chuck yelled once more but it was too late, Sarah had already stormed out of his quarters and slammed the door after her leaving Chuck to sigh deeply...

Oh dear, I wonder what happened to cause the argument? It was going so well for them... Find out next chapter :P

Please review, thanks...


	21. Trouble in Paradise Part One

_WHAT DO WE WANT? A CHUCK MOVIE! WHEN DO WE WANT IT? NOW!_

 _Aside from High School Sweethearts where it's nothing but geeky Charah, I always look to include geek references in my stories, and I couldn't resist editing into the last chapter a Defense of the Ancients reference about Pudge, I've always wanted to add that in to one of my stories, and finally got the chance haha. Now I just need to find an ideal moment for Sarah to say "Ahhh…. Fresh meat!" and my life is complete. Actually, look out for that one in 'New Beginnings' When Morgan and Charah actually play Dota together when I pick that story up again some time after this one is completed xD_

 _Speaking of Dota, I need to hurry up and finish this story as I'm getting very antsy to play games again (I have a 1500 steam game library, only played 6% of it, lol) as I try to avoid gaming while I'm working on a story, otherwise I will get distracted and one week becomes a month and a month becomes etc.._

 _I'm still seeing a few people being stuck in the mindset that Sarah is a CIA super spy in this story. I know it's not easy, as when you think of the CIA you think of Sarah being trained in martial arts and always carrying a gun, but that is **NOT** the Sarah Walker in this story. I strongly advise you to watch the movie 'Zero Dark Thirty' and look at the character 'Maya' as that is who I am basing Sarah on in this story. Another good example is Claire Danes in 'Homeland' or the British TV Series 'Spooks/Mi5' All of these examples are how an actual intelligence agency employee would behave in real life, unless of course they were part of a Clandestine Black Ops division (Such as the CIA's Special Activities Division or Israel's Mossad) to which Sarah is not. It's just not possible to send Sarah on a mission with somebody as highly trained as Chuck is. If Sarah were to go on a mission with Chuck's team, she would be considered a liability to the team and would slow them down and she is not trained in military strategy and tactics. However, the upcoming three chapters are the only scenes besides two more that I have at my disposal that involve Charah being on some sort of mission together._

 _This chapter will also prove why a Navy SEAL and an Intelligence Agent in love with each other just doesn't work as they are too personally attached to each other and it's extremely dangerous and risky for everybody involved to have them on a job together._

 _Disclaimer; Don't own anything in this chapter, or any other chapter. Wish I owned Chuck though, as I would probably attempt to make it the longest running TV show in history if I did._

 _Word Count for this Chapter; 4790_

* * *

 **Chapter Twenty One**

 **Trouble in Paradise Part One**

 **Baghdad, Iraq**

 **Inside Red Zone**

 **28 September 2006**

 **14:00 hours**

Chuck, Sarah, Second Class Ryan Smith and Second Class Phillip Wilson had just arrived in central Baghdad at a busy market inside an unmarked though tracked by satellite vehicle. The three SEAL's were assigned to Sarah's protection for the day per Chuck's request as Sarah has set up a meeting with a high level figure directly involved in the Iraqi insurgency. Sarah has spent the best part of six months building up an informant/handler relationship with this high level figure and he contacted her three days ago wanting to meet with her, which he has never done before though they had attempted on two previous occasions and has promised Sarah game changing information. The fact that he has never met with her before has made Sarah very excited as she is sure that the information her informant is about to give to her is going to be huge and career defining, her bosses at the CIA station at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad and the even higher ups back at Langley were also in agreement with Sarah and were very interested in hearing what her informant has to offer. Sarah has been very excited the past three days and has had an extra spring in her step as she planned the time and place for the meeting with her high level source who had insisted on this chosen place where they are right now.

Sarah and Chuck were in a final discussion on where Chuck should wait, the three SEAL's were armed with Heckler & Koch MP7 sub machine guns and had heavier weaponry inside the trunk of their unmarked vehicle.

"Chuck, this guy spooks very easily and has aborted two previous meeting attempts in the past, so I don't want you guys to do anything stupid and jump the gun. I have spent six months building this up to where it is today and I need you all to stay back and out of sight." Sarah warns to the three SEAL Operators.

"Sarah like I said back on base, I have no problem with leaving Ryan and Phil in the vehicle but I'm going to be on your six, it's either that or we go back right now, that's the only compromise I'm prepared to make, if I had it my way this guy of yours would be meeting on a base or at the very least in the Green Zone." Chuck replies, leaving no room for discussion in his tone.

Sarah puffs out a sigh in resignation. "Okay, just please don't do anything stupid Chuck, you are here just in case you are needed and trust me you wont be." Sarah says in desperation as today could be the biggest moment in her career and she wants everything to go perfectly without any hitches.

"I sincerely hope you are right Sarah, the last thing I want is to get in to a firefight with only three operators in a market full of hundreds of people." Chuck replies reassuringly which helps to ease some of Sarah's tension.

20 minutes later

Chuck and Sarah were now inside the centre of the busy market and were at an outdoor café which was the chosen meeting spot and Sarah was due to meet her informant in ten minutes. Chuck's senses were working overtime as he continued to survey and scan the entire area around Sarah and himself to keep her safe.

"Sarah I don't like this." Chuck says uncomfortably as Chuck has eyes on the pair being eyeballed by several idle military aged males around the market.

"Chuck it will be fine trust me." Sarah replies reassuringly with a smile as she touches her lovers arm affectionately while scanning her eyes around to look for the arrival of her informant.

3 minutes later

Chuck and Sarah were still waiting for Sarah's informant to turn up when the elite Navy SEAL suddenly noticed a green van arrive maybe fifty metres away and the driver and passenger were looking in the direction of Chuck and Sarah.

Every single one of Chuck's instincts were screaming at him to get Sarah and himself out of here right now as something didn't smell right to the battle hardened SEAL but Sarah kept attempting to reassure Chuck that everything was fine. Chuck couldn't ignore the obvious though, there were at least five males paying heavy attention to them and the entire situation just screamed kidnapping to the battle hardened DEVGRU operator.

Chuck continued to study the van in particular as the side door to it had now opened with the driver and the passenger still looking in the direction of Chuck and Sarah. Chuck had to make a split second operational decision and he immediately shook his head at Sarah who immediately became very anxious.

"Chuck… What are you doing? Please don't do this, I'm begging you Chuck please!" Sarah begged her lover, her eyes now watery as she tried to stop him from blowing what she had spent six months working so hard on.

"Sarah I'm sorry, something bad is going to happen here, we need to call off the meeting." Chuck replied sympathetically as he removed his arm from Sarah's grip so he could adjust his hands onto his concealed MP7 submachine gun.

"No Chuck please!" Sarah said frantically, tears full flowing in her eyes as everything she had worked so hard towards began to fall apart around her and she was powerless to do anything about it.

"Ryan bring up the vehicle I'm pulling this op." Chuck commanded to his expert driver.

"Aye sir." The operator replied as he fired the ignition and began to head to his CO and the CIA Agent from where he had previously parked their vehicle.

"No!" Sarah cried as she began to hit away at Chuck's chest with her hands.

"I'm sorry Sarah, I really am." Chuck said apologetically before he had to physically push Sarah away from him because she was stopping him from drawing his weapon. On pushing Sarah away from him, Chuck immediately drew out his sub machine gun from where it was concealed on his person to scare off any would be attacker and Chuck positioned himself in a protective position in front of Sarah in case any rounds were fired off at them so he would take the hit instead.

The green van had begun to edge closer to Chuck and Sarah with the side door still open and Chuck immediately raised his weapon in the direction of the van while making sure to move and adjust to keep Sarah protectively behind him. The green van immediately came to a stop as the driver and passenger began to panic while still looking in Chuck's direction as he had his weapon trained on them, his finger itching ready on the trigger for the first sight of a weapon.

Second Class Smith had just arrived at the location of Chuck and Sarah with their exit vehicle and Second Class Wilson immediately exited the vehicle and drew his own MP7 in the direction of the green van as he too deemed it a threat to them as he began to grapple Sarah into the vehicle who was still being resistant to the SEAL's attempting to fight her way free from them but the frogman was too powerful for her and quickly put her into the vehicle.

"Get us out of here Ryan." Chuck commanded to his driver while Chuck and Second Class Wilson were still scanning around for any would be attackers as the SEAL's and the CIA Agent began to exfiltrate.

Several minutes later

"WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU DO!" Sarah yells as she begins to sob. "WHY DID YOU DO THAT YOU FUCKING ASSHOLES!" Sarah begins to see red as as she slaps away at Chuck's chest with her arms which didn't really hurt him whatsoever inside the vehicle.

"WHAT THE FUCK!" Chuck's two operators yelled disapprovingly at seeing their CO getting attacked and were getting ready to intervene but Chuck waved his hand warning them not to say or do anything else as Sarah was already a ticking time bomb and they just needed to get back to base safely, the damage was already done it was too late to change things now.

"YOU'VE JUST BLOWN SIX MONTHS OF MY HARD WORK I HOPE YOU'RE FUCKING HAPPY WITH YOURSELF!" Sarah aggressively yelled into Chuck's face.

Chuck knew it was useless to try and say anything as it would just make Sarah even more angry so he just let Sarah vent by allowing himself to be used as a venting machine as a pissed off Sarah Walker vented her frustrations.

* * *

 **FOB Midnight**

 **15:00 hours**

The three SEAL's and Sarah had just arrived back on their main base of operations and Second Class Smith pulled the vehicle to a stop. Sarah immediately darted out of the vehicle to put as much distance away from the three people who had just collectively blown her biggest operation since joining the CIA.

Chuck quickly caught up with Sarah, which probably wasn't the smartest of ideas right now but he needed her to know how sorry he was.

"Sarah..."

"GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM ME!" Sarah turned to aggressively yell into his face.

"Sarah, I'm…"

"YOU'RE A FUCKING ASSHOLE!" Sarah continued to rage in anger as she pushed Chuck in his chest forcefully with her hands which caused Chuck to grunt discomfortingly.

"Sarah, call me whatever you want, I can live with that, as long as it means you're okay. I would sooner you call me a million names under the sun than having to watch a clip of your head getting chopped off on national television!" Chuck began to yell back at her, as he was starting to get annoyed at Sarah shouting at him and physically attacking him.

"He was legitimate Chuck he has given up two cells!" Sarah yelled back into his face.

Chuck shook his head disagreeing with her, he knew what he saw at that market. "They could have been his rivals Sarah, his competition." Chuck tried to say to her but Sarah had turned and began to walk away from him once more. Chuck caught up with her again and put his hand on her shoulder to stop her.

Sarah snapped back around to face Chuck. "Get your hand off me RIGHT NOW or I swear this will end badly Chuck! Leave me alone!" Sarah warned menacingly with a scowl on her face before turning to storm off again once more.

Chuck sighed deeply as he put his hand to his face and ran it over his face aggressively as he began to vent in frustration.

* * *

 **FOB Midnight**

 **Situation Room**

 **16:00 hours**

 **Conference Call with CIA Director Graham, Special Agent Shaw, Agent Walker, Lieutenant Commander Bartowski and other Intelligence officials**

"WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED OUT THERE!" Director Graham yelled into the video transmission as he demanded answers on the tits up operation.

"I have absolutely no idea Director, ask the Commander..." Sarah replied coldly without any emotion, she could not bear to look at Chuck right now, she was still pissed off and if she seen his face she would probably do something that she would later regret.

Chuck kept trying to initiate eye contact with Sarah, so that she could see how sorry he was in his eyes but she wouldn't look at him so he sighed.

"Well?" Chuck was interrupted by the CIA Director still waiting for an explanation on what had happened.

"We were being eyeballed by at least five military age males and I made the tactical decision to pull the operation." Chuck replied to the intelligence officials glaring disapprovingly at him on the screen.

Sarah immediately scoffed on hearing Chuck's explanation of him ruining what she has spent a good portion of the past six months of her life working on.

Chuck glanced in the direction of Sarah once more, his body language showing signs of resignation as he sighed deeply.

"I demand a written report of your actions on this operation Commander Bartowski, we agreed to you providing protection for this meeting but that was all we agreed to, you were there purely for backup purposes." The Director said distastefully.

Chuck continued to sigh and nodded his head in acceptance.

"Could have fooled me." Sarah muttered under her breath.

"What was that Agent Walker?" Director Graham demanded impatiently.

"I said you could have fooled me Director. From what I seen first hand, he acted like he owned the show." Sarah replied without any emotion, still refusing to meet Chuck's gaze.

 **FOB Midnight**

 **Situation Room**

 **19:00 hours**

Since Chuck made the decision to pull the operation five hours ago, he still hasn't managed to have a civilized discussion on the subject with Sarah, and he still feels incredibly uneasy on the topic. Chuck expected that it would be incredibly hard for Sarah to accept his decision, but he was sure she would understand that her safety had to come before anything else. Unfortunately however, it doesn't appear that Sarah shares those same sentiments as he does.

Chuck was busy writing up his report that the CIA Director had demanded when Sarah walked past him. Chuck immediately stood up and followed Sarah as he wanted to make another attempt to talk to her.

Chuck quickly caught up with Sarah just outside the situation room.

"Sarah please can we talk about what happened earlier?" Chuck asked with his eyes pleading as he attempted to make eye contact with Sarah.

"I don't want to talk to you right now Chuck." Sarah replied while stood stationary, still avoiding Chuck's gaze.

Chuck deeply sighed to himself for a moment.

"Sarah, what did I do that was so wrong? I made a tactical decision to keep you safe." Chuck replied dejectedly as he continued to sigh.

"You had no authority to do that Chuck." Sarah snapped.

"Well I disagree." Chuck snapped back in response.

"Okay, nice talk." Sarah says as the conversation was over as far as she was concerned as she turns away once more to continue walking again.

Chuck once more quickly caught up with Sarah again which caused her to sigh and stop walking again. "Sarah, wait please." Chuck said in desperation.

"Chuck it's best I'm not around you right now, please leave me alone." Sarah replied distantly.

"Sarah you're behaving childishly."

Sarah suddenly snapped "I'M BEHAVING CHILDISHLY? I'M NOT THE ONE WHO DID WHAT YOU DID!"

"And I would do it again Sarah." Chuck replied calmly in a tone that really pissed Sarah off as she got into his face again like hours previously.

"WHY ARE YOU SO FUCKING FRUSTRATING!" Sarah yelled into Chuck's face as she pushed his chest once more forcefully with her hand which caused Chuck to snarl aggressively this time as the two lovers entered into a fully blown argument in the middle of their base oblivious to everything around them.

Sarah's aggressive tone coupled with her getting into Chuck's face again caused Chuck to begin to get extremely pissed off himself. "I COULD SAY THE FUCKING SAME FOR YOU!" Chuck snapped back into Sarah's face and before either of them could retort or do anything else which they were about to with a certain part of their faces, they were interrupted by a small posse of four.

"Is everything okay here?" One of them asked the fighting lovers.

Chuck took his eyes away from Sarah to look in the direction of where the intrusion had originated from "Everything is fine." Chuck said as he nodded at them before looking back at Sarah with their faces inches apart, as this conversation was not finished, Chuck was seething inside right now. Chuck had, had just about enough of Sarah getting into his face and screaming at him and pushing him and hitting his body.

"Are you sure?" The same person replied once more but was looking right at Sarah instead.

Chuck suddenly lost it "WHAT DID I FUCKING JUST SAY!" He yelled with an almighty roar accompanied with a scowl on his face as he shifted his posture into an aggressive position to face the group of four ready to take on the whole lot.

"Woah, you are out of line Commander! HOW DARE YOU!" The same person replied very distastefully though himself and his companions were all immensely startled by the stance that the Navy SEAL had just put himself in.

Sarah suddenly moved to stand between Chuck and the group of four officers to calm the situation before anything happens to the man she still loves and always will love more than anything until the day that she dies.

"General, I'm sorry. We're both really sorry for arguing in the middle of base. We have both just came back from a very bad operation and it won't happen again I can assure you." Sarah said sincerely to the Brigadier General who had exited the bases situation room with three of his subordinates.

"Make sure it doesn't happen again! You're very lucky that I don't have you locked up!" The General warned to Chuck as continued to stare distastefully at Chuck a final time who was still seething inside and had to bite into his index finger from where his fist was clenched to control his anger.

Sarah waited for the small military posse to leave before she continued "Chuck, what the hell? Are you insane?! You can't talk to a General like that!"

Chuck didn't respond and his facial expressions showed that he was still at boiling point and Sarah sighed deeply knowing that it probably wouldn't be wise to provoke Chuck any more than she already had. This wasn't the same Chuck that Sarah knew from college, every single thing about him has changed and Sarah sometimes has a hard time remembering that. "Chuck, I will talk to you later when I have calmed down. I think it's best that neither of us say anything else because we are just going to regret it so I will come to you later." Sarah finished, before walking away once more leaving Chuck to be alone deep in his own thoughts.

 **Several minutes later**

Chuck quickly rushed to his quarters once Sarah had left and as soon as he entered them he let loose an almighty fit of rage as he slammed his fist into several locations to release his dangerous anger levels that almost landed him with a court-martial or worse.

* * *

 **FOB Midnight**

 **22:00 hours**

Sarah just arrived outside Chuck's quarters and she has managed to calm down a lot in the hours that have passed since Chuck did what he did. Sarah hasn't forgiven him, and it will probably take a lot for her to forgive what he did, as he had well and truly tombstone piledrived her six month intelligence operation. But when Sarah actually took a long moment to sit and think inside her quarters, she realized that what Chuck did, he did it for her, and a pretty huge part of her loved him for that, she'd never had anybody protect her like that, but she also realized that Chuck was probably too emotionally involved and probably would not have done that, if Sarah was not his girlfriend and the past history that they shared together.

Sarah sighed for a long moment to gather her thoughts before reaching her hand out to knock on the door.

Chuck answered the door several moments later, and ushered her inside.

"Look Sarah, before you say anything, I don't want to fight Sarah please." Chuck begged dejectedly as his facial expressions showed just how dejected he felt.

"Chuck, I'm not here to fight." Sarah replied as she touched Chuck's arm comfortingly while pausing to sigh deeply. "But we do need to talk about what happened Chuck."

"Absolutely." Chuck agreed as they sat on the edge of Chuck's bed to face each other.

"Firstly, I want to apologize for however many times I hit away at you earlier Chuck." Sarah paused as she was interrupted by Chuck trying to say something "Please Chuck let me finish, violence is inexcusable in any situation, I let my anger get the better of me and what I did was inexcusable so please don't try to condone it and I wouldn't blame you if you didn't want to bother with me again." Sarah paused to allow that to sink in before continuing "But now Chuck, we need to talk about what happened. Chuck you let your personal feelings come before the mission." Sarah said while never removing her gaze away from his eyes.

Chuck began to shake his head in disagreement "No, that's bull crap Sarah, I would have done what I did for anybody."

"Chuck, I don't agree." Sarah replied quickly and more harshly than she wanted.

"Sarah, I don't care if you agree or not, I know how I feel. It doesn't matter if you were at that meeting or somebody I didn't even know. I would have done the exact same thing for anybody. Sarah, I don't want to come across as patronizing towards you and it will probably sound as such but I've served on operational tours with the teams for the best part of five years, and I can safely tell you with absolute certainty that if I had not have made a move like I did, there would have been no best case scenario for either of us. Sarah, you didn't see the van or the several males eyeballing us at the market as you were too focused and busy looking out for your informant."

Sarah shook her head, as far as Sarah is concerned her informant that she was supposed to meet today was reliable and nothing would change her opinion of that.

"I'm telling you Sarah, I swear to you, nobody was there to give us information, they were there to harm us, trust me." Chuck continued to implore Sarah to see reason.

"I don't." Sarah replied and as soon as she did, she began to regret it as she didn't mean it to come out like that at all.

Chuck suddenly began to get angry again. "That's rich coming from you! Please do tell me Sarah, what I have I ever done not to earn your trust? If anything, I should be the one with the trust issues out of the two, or have you forgotten what you did!"

"Oh trust you to bring up something that happened in the past to win an argument Chuck!" Sarah said as she shook her head disapprovingly as she began to feel anger building up again.

"You can be a real douche at times Chuck, you know that right?" Sarah replied distastefully.

"It takes one to know one Sarah!" Chuck replied in the same tone as they glared at each other with daggers as rage began to build again once more.

Sarah sighed deeply to attempt to regain her composure, her stupid curly haired nerd just made her so mad at times and Sarah doesn't have any more fight left in her after an emotionally draining day. "You know what Chuck, this isn't a good idea right now." Sarah said as she stood up and began to head for the door before they say things they regret.

"Yeah, run away Sarah! You're good at that!" Chuck yelled after Sarah, who immediately paused as she turned back to glare coldly at Chuck, the impact of his words evident on her face as she began to tear up inside.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean that!" Chuck yelled once more but it was too late, Sarah had already stormed out of his quarters and slammed the door after her leaving Chuck to sigh deeply as he knew that was uncalled for and petty and he had fucked up once again...

Sarah returned to her quarters and as soon as she entered them she began to fully sob as she collapsed against the door as she kept repeating to herself over and over what Chuck had just shouted to her. Sarah couldn't stop crying the rest of that night as her relationship with Chuck has just came off the rails and Sarah isn't sure how and if they can come back from this...

 **A/N**

Next chapter, Trouble in Paradise Part Two :D

Okay, I'm going to predict it before it even happens. I'm going to have criticism coming my way over the General/Chuck scene.

So let me explain my reasoning for why I had Chuck behave how he did.

Chuck would NEVER snap out or touch a lady in any way. And Sarah had been slapping him in his chest all day, screaming in his face and pushing him so Chuck was extremely on edge and that is what caused him to snap like that to somebody much higher up the chain of command. Sarah had got Chuck so riled and his frustration boiled over onto the first male to confront him, which so happened to be a United States General, ouch... lol.

Please review, you might not get much in return from me except my gratitude but you do get faster published chapters so surely that's worth something? :P


	22. Trouble in Paradise Part Two

**WARNING! Dark scenes involving a core character in this chapter, like really dark, the darkest I have ever done and probably ever will do. This chapter will not be pretty, it's going to get ugly, so here is your warning, don't say I didn't warn you. If you have thin skin I really don't recommend you to read the final parts to this chapter, and just wait for the next one, all will be revealed!**

* * *

Thank you everybody for the kind words, as I have already said, without your interaction, I would not be writing fanfiction right now and I would be playing Dota or Runescape or something instead while listening to monstercat, lol. Well actually I'm still listening to monstercat regardless :P But seriously, your interaction makes all of this worthwhile for me so thank you again.

Guest- I am happy that my story makes you want to watch Chuck again. I also miss the show very much and hate how it ended, we deserved better than the ending we got. Every time I watch a Chuck clip on youtube (which is a lot) I always get so mad because of how perfect the scenes are and then I always instantly think to the ending of the show and Sarah forgetting everything. Chuck writers are such douchebags for that they did to the fans.

Joe- Yeah, Sarah was very aggressive in the last chapter but I can't imagine what that must have been like for her, to have something she spent so many months working on stamped on all over by Chuck as she got near the finishing line. I personally feel like they were both in the wrong. however, I don't blame Chuck for doing what he did, as it was better for him to act than like he said, having to watch Sarah get tortured, abused, executed etc maybe even in front of himself.

Isabel- Thank you for the kind words and I apologize for any mistakes in this story, if I could make it a perfect piece of fine art I can assure you I would. Unfortunately, I'm not capable to make this story perfect and this is the best that I can do. Maybe in the future when I have improved my English (Bear in mind that even though English is my primary language, I can write in French and Spanish better than English. My English is probably only on a par with my Hebrew, lol) I will do Remastered versions of all of my stories, and also consult a beta to help with them, but there's no point in me stopping now to suddenly find a beta, as we are more than half way through the story so I may as well continue to the end and then re-evaluate my options in the future for further stories.

Garnet- You're absolutely right, once more I was kind of guilty of hitting the trigger to fast and could have probably reinforced the General scene and made it better, that's actually where a beta would come in super handy.. What Chuck did to the General, in real life you're probably going to get court-martialed just for that alone, but it wouldn't serve well for my plot for my main character to be court-martialed, lol… If I didn't need Chuck for the coming scenes I can assure you he would be very much court-martialed but I wanted to do that scene to show just how riled up Sarah had got Chuck, to the point that he wasn't even thinking about the consequences of his actions court-martial be dammed, he probably did not even register that he was addressing a General. To Chuck at that particular moment in time the General was just another person who was getting on his nerves. So yeah, I didn't really want that particular scene to be realistically believable, that was more me dipping in to the realms of fantasy just to create further suspense… Hey! I will openly hold my hands up, we are all guilty of a little far fetching! :P

Word Count for this Chapter: 4200

* * *

 **Chapter Twenty Two**

 **Trouble in Paradise Part Two**

 **FOB Midnight**

 **29 September**

 **10:00 hours**

Sarah was now awake and was reluctantly starting her day after her restless night where she did not get much sleep because of what Chuck had said to her the previous evening. If Sarah had her way she would stay in bed and not move again for the rest of time while continuing to self hate but thanks to Chuck and everything he did to destroy her career yesterday, Sarah now had to spend the entire day trying to salvage and begin to attempt to repair the damage that Chuck had done to her career. Sarah had embarrassed herself throughout the entire agency by promising them game changing information only to have came away with jack shit, and it was all thanks to Chuck. Sarah has been made to look a fool in front of every single key figure inside the CIA and Sarah once more now has to prove her worth to them all over again by attempting to bring her informant back to the table again, which would not be easy because when he had spooked in the past it had took weeks to restore relations with him and now it was even more complicated and difficult because Chuck and his other idiot operator had pulled out guns and if her informant seen that, he would now be thinking that Chuck and Sarah were there to assassinate him and bait him to the meeting to kill him. Sarah sighed deeply at that revelation as she began to get started on attempting to bring him back to the table and arrange another meeting today if possible...

 **FOB Midnight**

 **10:00 hours**

Chuck was still inside his luxurious special forces base and he was finishing off his report about yesterday's botched operation. Chuck had attempted to talk and to apologize to Sarah earlier this morning over what he said to her last night by arriving at her quarters but he did not get an answer, she either did not want to speak to him or she had already left so he reluctantly sighed to himself for a long moment before reluctantly leaving to start his day.

 **11:00 hours**

Chuck had now finished up his report and had faxed a copy over to the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad which is the location of the CIA's main base of operations in the Middle East and another copy directly to Langley.

Chuck then paid a visit to the bases main situation room to information gather for any possible tasking for his troop this evening and he was happy that there was no actionable intelligence presently available because he could not focus whatsoever on his job today. Chuck's head wasn't in the game and his sole and only focus was to attempt to rebuild everything that he himself had shattered. Chuck knows that he had driven a huge wedge between Sarah and himself yesterday and he knows he has an awful lot of making up and fixing to do because not only did he blow what Sarah had spent six months of her life working on, he also said some pretty harsh things despite Sarah also saying she didn't trust him which did hurt, he couldn't lie about that but Chuck always has and always will blame every problem he faces on himself before he blames anybody else, because that's just who he is. Chuck will always choose to blame himself than blame somebody else, in any situation, as he always feels that he could have approached the situation differently and thus bypassing the problem entirely.

After learning that there was no present information that could amount to an operation being conducted this evening, Chuck was pretty much free for the rest of the day. Chuck had then conducted a team meeting with his troop to inform them that they were still stood down for the day and his men began to disperse to do things on base, such as visiting the indoor swimming pool or fitness centres on base etc.

Chuck then began his search of the base for Sarah.

* * *

 **12:00 hours**

Chuck finally found Sarah inside one of three operations centres on base after searching pretty much everywhere else on the base that she could have possibly been at this time of the day such as the pool, the three gyms, the mess hall, the situation room and the other two operations centres. Sarah looked very occupied on what ever task she was doing and sighing to himself, Chuck began to walk over to her...

Arriving behind her Chuck took a moment to gather his thoughts as she had not seen him approach her.

"Sarah.." Chuck said in a tone that conveyed several of his feelings. Chuck's tone sounded apologetic, soothing and remorseful.

Sarah froze momentarily on hearing Chuck's voice but then she immediately began to walk away to head elsewhere as she refused to acknowledge his presence.

"Sarah, please wait." Chuck quickly caught up with her, his tone now sounding very apologetic and remorseful.

"I don't have anything to say to you." Sarah replied detached from any emotion as she continued to give Chuck the cold shoulder and continued on walking away from him.

"Sarah, I'm sorry." Chuck said remorsefully as he kept up with her.

"Whatever." Sarah replied in the same tone she has used thus far since this 'conversation' started.

"Sarah, please." Chuck said as he sighed dejectedly.

Sarah stopped walking and turned to face him, her tone still detached from emotion "I don't have anything to say to you, more than enough was said last night, you made how you feel about me well known. Now I'm very busy, so will you please go away." Sarah finished and continued walking again once more.

Chuck sighed in resignation and chose not to follow her any more, he couldn't force her to talk to him, and he absolutely couldn't blame her for not wanting to, what he said last night was so far out of line he knew the instant he had said it that he had fucked up massively and it could now take weeks to repair the damage done.

* * *

 **16:00 hours**

Chuck was presently in a deep conversation with his best friend and XO Morgan that has been ongoing for at least ten minutes.

"Man I fucked up so badly." Chuck said dejectedly to his best friend as he had his head in his hands ashamed at everything that happened yesterday.

"From everything you've told me Chuck, I couldn't agree more." Morgan agreed before continuing further "But only you can make up for your mistakes man. Go talk to her and apologize, beg if you have to." Morgan implored Chuck.

"I'm not sure it's wise, after what happened yesterday I don't want another argument in the middle of base, I have no fight left in me." Chuck sighed dejectedly in defeat.

"Chuck the longer it goes on, the harder it's going to be, this could quickly turn in to a major problem unless you plug the hole right now. The longer you leave it, the more you begin to over think the problem, and it becomes a whole lot worse. You both need to make it up before the end of this day, because one day could quickly become a month, that's just my advice and look, there she is right now." Morgan says as he pointed in the direction of Sarah who was walking somewhere.

Chuck's eyes darted over to where Morgan was pointing.

"You're right buddy, you're absolutely right!" Chuck says with renewed hope as he nodded and quickly headed over to catch up with Sarah.

"Sarah.." Chuck says shamefully as he caught up with Sarah.

Sarah sighed and stopped walking "Now isn't a good time Chuck." Sarah says sounding very occupied.

"Sarah, I'm so sorry!" Chuck says with his voice sounding broken as he can feel his eyes watery, Chuck is not afraid to show emotion if the situation calls for it. Some people would say it's a sign of weakness for a man to cry, Chuck would vehemently disagree, it shows you are human.

Hearing the tone to Chuck's voice, Sarah paused to look in to his eyes and immediately softened her walls. "I'm sorry too Chuck. Look... I also said things I shouldn't have but now really is not a good time." Sarah stressed.

"Okay, when?"

"Later, when I get back, I promise."

"Where are you going?" Chuck asked inquisitively.

"To repair all of the damage you have done to my career Chuck." Sarah replied as she sighed.

"You're going back to another meeting?" Chuck asked dumbfoundedly as he immediately began to worry.

"I really don't have time to talk Chuck." Sarah replied before she started walking again.

"Sarah, wait!" Chuck said as he darted after her.

Sarah sighed and looked to the heavens. "Please Chuck, don't make this hard for me, I have to do this."

"Sarah at least let me come with you, please." Chuck begged with his eyes becoming even more watery as he was deeply concerned for her safety.

"No Chuck, you've already done enough damage I can't trust you out there any more."

Hearing those words again even though they were said in a different context this time still made Chuck angry again as he began to yell at her "Sarah why are you being so stubborn!"

Sarah immediately snapped back in response "Chuck, you aren't qualified to lecture me on the subject! What you did yesterday, you didn't even consult me! You're the stubborn one!"

"But Sarah please, I beg you! It's not safe to go alone!" Chuck brokenly begged her, he didn't want somebody he cared about to put herself in harms way, no career in the world was worth the life of the woman he loved.

"I'm better on my own." Sarah replied coldly.

"But Sarah…"

"RIGHT NOW CHUCK IT'S AGENT WALKER!" Sarah snapped, as she began to get frustrated with Chuck stopping her from leaving.

"WELL WHEN YOU PUT IT LIKE THAT, IT'S COMMANDER BARTOWSKI!" Chuck snapped back in response.

"Yes sir, Commander, now please go away!" Sarah replied before she continued walking again.

Chuck sighed in defeat. "Okay, fine! You know what? Go and get yourself killed Sarah, see if I care! It was nice knowing ya!" Chuck roared at her, his voice containing far too much emotion which contradicted what he had said.

Sarah paused briefly for a moment to let out a whimper as his words impacted her deep inside her core and she lowered her head in depression before continuing to walk again with her head looking down at the floor as she headed to her transport vehicle visibly shaken up.

* * *

 **Baghdad, Iraq**

 **Inside Red Zone**

 **16:50 hours**

Sarah was now at the exact same place of yesterday's failed meeting and was waiting at the same café that her informant had set up the meeting at. Sarah sat and continued to wait and as she waited she couldn't get a certain brown haired man out of her thoughts as her mind continued to race with deep thoughts about him.

 **17:00 hours**

Sarah was still waiting at the café and her informant was due to meet her any minute when she suddenly heard the sound of a vehicle and turned to glance in the direction as a green van immediately pulled up metres away from her and the side door to it opened and she was suddenly staring at a masked male with an AK47 pointed at her. Sarah immediately began to panic as thoughts raced through her mind as she realized she had just walked in to a trap, the very same trap that her lover had tried to warn her and talk sense into her about yesterday. That is the last thing Sarah remembered as she was quickly sent unconscious by a devastating blow from the butt of an assault rifle to her face.

 **Undisclosed location**

Sarah woke up in darkness, her jaw and cheek hurt like hell and she begins to shake her head as she tries to realize what the hell is happening to her as she can't remember much. Sarah tries to move her hands and legs but something is stopping them from moving, they feel like they are bound together her lips are dry and she tries to wet them and can taste blood.

 **Minutes later**

Sarah was still in the same position that she had woken in, she has managed to determine that she is laying on a hard floor and probably has a balaclava over her face, she is no longer disorientated and remembers being at the café waiting for her informant and remembers right up until the moment she was knocked unconscious by the butt of an assault rifle. Sarah has been abducted, just like Chuck had warned her. There is now no best case scenario, the worst case is that she will probably be executed on video within the next few hours, the 'best' case scenario is that she will probably be beaten and abused for days and hopefully a rescue attempt will be made to free her. But Sarah doesn't have much hope for that scenario, because nobody in this world has any idea where Sarah is.

'I drove the only person to have ever loved me away from me because I was selfish once more and wanted a career highlight' Sarah began to think to herself.

Sarah had went to the meeting without backup and had walked right in to a trap. Sarah was in deep thoughts when she began to hear movement and voices in the room, several moments later she could feel people in close proximity to her and they had picked her up from where she was laying on the floor to now sit on her knees and the blindfold came off moments later. Sarah's eyes immediately squinted and it took her a moment to adjust her sight as she was disorientated, she immediately began to look around the room and seen several Arab males, and the last one she set eyes on made her blood boil.

"You bastard!" Sarah spat in the direction of her informant, the person who she had put trust in after he had fed to her two insurgent cells that her bosses were very pleased with.

Sarah's outburst was met with two immediate devastating blows to her face from an assault rifle as all five males in the room all began to laugh approvingly at the acts of violence.

"I trusted you!" Sarah yelled disgustingly with venom as blood poured over her face from the two devastating impacts.

"Yes you did, such naivety I have to say Agent Walker, I'm extremely disappointed in how easy it was to get you here, if I had known it was this easy I would have carried out my plan months ago." He said as he began to laugh, while the other men in the room followed suit with their leader.

"What about the two networks you gave us?"

Sarah's informant began to grin "Ah, my competition. I have to say I'm quite proud of that one, getting the CIA to do my dirty work, I don't think I ever did thank you for that." He finished with an almighty grin as he chuckled away to his men.

'Chuck was right' Sarah thought to herself as her frame of mind continued to deteriorate.

"I hope you die a painful death!" Sarah yelled at her informant and all of the other bastards in the room.

"Who knows, maybe I will some day, but I plan to stay very much alive for the foreseeable future, it would be criminal for me to miss out on all of the fun we're going to have with you." He began to laugh once more, again his men followed suit.

"Spare me all of the macho bullshit to impress your men. Just kill me." Sarah said without any emotion, she was not in the business of begging anybody for anything and she wasn't going to start now. There was only one man who she would openly beg to and open herself emotionally for and she's probably never going to see his face ever again. Regardless, these bastards aren't exactly the type to offer mercy or compassion, they would probably sell their own children if it suited their own twisted needs so it was useless to plead and beg, that was what they wanted.

"Kill you?" Sarah's informant paused to laugh hysterically with his men for a good minute before continuing "You're far more use to us alive."

"I won't talk." Sarah said with conviction.

"I wouldn't be so sure about that." Sarah's informant replied cockily. "By the time we're finished with you, you're going to be begging to want to help us, and only then after you have told us everything we want will we kill you." He began to laugh again, followed by the usual chorus of his men following suit.

"Speaking of which, why don't we get started right away." Sarah's informant stated cheerfully as he motioned his men toward Sarah who developed huge grins as they headed towards their captured American bitch and began to strip her. "I'm going to very much enjoy watching my men have their way with you, and then once they're finished I will especially enjoy when it's my turn, you're one beautiful lady, for an American whore." He began to laugh, again followed by his bastard men joining in chorus.

Sarah closed her eyes as she began to think of Chuck. Tears freely falling down her face as she painted a picture of his beautiful face and thought of all of the happy moments in her life, and every single one of them was with her Chuck. Tears continue to fall down Sarah's face as she thinks about his warm loving eyes, his facial expressions, his body warmth whenever he would hug her, his soft lips whenever they would kiss, his breathtaking smile...

Sarah was stripped naked now, and her bastard captors began to slap and strike her face repeatedly over and over, Sarah still had her eyes closed, as she heard the sounds of pants falling to the floor, followed by a long moment of silence, the bastards were toying with her, waiting for her to beg and plead to make it all the more sweet for them "FUCK YOU." Sarah spat venomously before turning her tone to a faint loving whisper "I love you Chuck." she whispered as she continued to cry, her eyes still closed as she continued to picture the man of her dreams. Even if Sarah ever did escape or was rescued, Chuck wouldn't want her any more now, she will now be damaged goods and he won't be able to look at her any more, that only furthered Sarah's tears as she continued to hear her bastard informants men's chuckles as they continued to mock her before the inevitable.. Sarah had accepted her fate now, all because of a stupid simple mistake of not trusting the man whom she loved unconditionally, and she is never going to see her baby ever again….

 **A/N** This scene was very uncomfortable to write, I didn't enjoy it at all as it really played with my emotions so I can imagine it was painful to read. Unfortunately, that is the horrors of war and it happens...

Next chapter; Trouble in Paradise Part 3 – The Finale. (Not the story finale, just the segment finale)

A simple question for the readers; What happens next? (I already know of course, but I'll let you all come to your conclusions, the joys of storytelling...)

Apologies for the almighty cliffhanger by the way, but you should know me by now, I just have a thing for cliffhangers, no matter how big they may be.


	23. Trouble in Paradise Finale

**Warning** : **This chapter is still** **very** **brutal** **,** **b** **ut it's a different kind of** **brutal** **, it's a kind that counteracts with the events** **from the** **previous chapter…** **So uh, just be careful if you are** **intolerant to violence. B** **ut I uh, I personally enjoyed writing this chapter, maybe I'm just sick like that...**

 **I would just like to offer a huge thank you to everybody who has interacted with my story so far, as Redemption now has over 25,000 views and 300 reviews.**

Word count for this chapter: 6000

* * *

 **All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing. - Edmund Burke**

* * *

 **Chapter Twenty Three**

 **Trouble in Paradise Finale**

" _You're an ice cream thief!" Sarah shook her head with mock disgust as her boyfriend licked away at her ice cream that she was holding to his lips for the dozenth time as the young besotted couple walked along the beach together._

" _I'll make it up to you later." Chuck replied seductively with his mouth full of ice cream while winking his eyebrows at her._

" _I'm fully expecting you to baby!" Sarah grinned back seductively before continuing "And no teasing!" Sarah warned sternly as thoughts immediately began to fill her mind on how she wanted him to make it up to her._

" _And seeing as though you've already had lots of it, you may as well have the final bit." Sarah said as she dunked his face with the remaining ice cream and immediately began to giggle hard as Chuck frowned._

" _You're going to regret that Sarah!" Chuck stated with conviction with his face now covered in ice cream._

" _Haha, only if you can catch me." Sarah replied who was wearing her bikini set and a white shirt as she ran off into the ocean._

 _Chuck immediately gave chase who was wearing his beach shorts. "I will catch you!" Chuck yelled determinedly as he chased after her._

 _Chuck caught up with his girlfriend in the water when the water level was half way up their bodies and he immediately pounced on Sarah as they fell backwards into the water._

" _Get off!" Sarah giggled as she tried to fight him off of her._

" _No, you asked for it." Chuck said as he dunked her head into the water._

 _Sarah instantly counteracted the motion by pulling him under with her as the two lovers wrestled with each other under the water for a long moment before they came up with their faces inches apart gasping for air._

 _Sarah and Chuck both began to giggle, before their lips connected in a passionate snogging session as their hands roamed territorially_ _over each others body while continuing to kiss and wage a war with their tongues until they fell short of breath and reluctantly parted their lips once more gasping for air as they touched foreheads._

" _Baby, if this is your idea of making me regret it, I should cover you in ice cream much more." Sarah laughed as she ran one hand up his bare figure while her other hand held him in place._

" _Ha! you think you're funny don't you?"_

" _I am funny baby." Sarah declared while still laughing away._

" _I will bide my time slowly Sarah and strike when you least expect it, sleep with one eye open if you are wise." Chuck replied as they both smirked at each other._

" _I love you baby." Sarah declared powerfully with both of their arms now around each other and their faces mere inches apart as they stood in the ocean with the water submerging most of their bodies._

" _I love you too buttercup." Chuck declared in the same tone Sarah used as Sarah began to giggle sweetly as she always does whenever he calls her that or uses any other endearment before she moved her lips to kiss him sensually once more. "I want you." Sarah moaned into his mouth._

 _Chuck began to pout. "But we were going water skiing." Chuck whined half-heartedly as Sarah continued to look at him with a lustful smirk._

" _We will come back tomorrow baby I promise. Come on, let's go back home." Sarah said as she began to pull at his arm to lead him out of the water._

" _Who's your mama!" Chuck retorted_ _and_ _S_ _arah_ _laughed_ _in response_ _while_ _continu_ _ing_ _to pull_ _at his arm_ _intently_ _as the two lovers headed back to their apartment_ _to further_ _intimately_ _express their love.._

Sarah was disturbed from her deep thoughts that she was having about her soulmate and she opened her eyes, tears still freely flowing down her cheeks as she began to glare icily at her captors, it was a look that spelt out a thousand unspoken words, her hatred for every single one of these bastards was as clear as day for all to see. Sarah continued her glare at them, and as she glared, she began to follow the frantic expressions on their faces to a corner of the room and that's when she heard it again, a distinct voice that she thought she was imagining when she had heard that voice call out her name a second or two ago.

"I'M GOING TO FUCKING KILL YOU!" Sarah heard him scream in a deafening roar as he charged towards her vicinity though his eyes were fixated behind her. Sarah's heart instantly soared and fluttered, her man has come for her…

Sarah began to survey the situation all around her as violence erupted all around the room as she watched two of her captors who were previously watching on bemusedly as their two friends mocked and abused her now drop lifeless to the floor, with two more assaulters dressed in combat gear just like her soulmate hovering over them firing further rounds in to their lifeless bodies and kicking away the guns from their proximity as she heard profanity being exclaimed from the two assaulters responsible for that particular segment of violence at the lifeless corpses...

Sarah then shifted her glare over to her informant, who was now slumped against a wall with blood oozing out from his torso from where he had been shot by an assaulter. Sarah could hear him moaning in agony and those moans for Sarah gave her deep feelings of ecstasy. Sarah could feel one of her bastard captors behind her who had previously been abusing her and he was now holding onto her for dear life in fear of Chuck lunging towards her and that vile bastard. Sarah quickly felt his grip loosen on her and Sarah fell to the floor as she was unable to keep her balance as she was still bound and Sarah glanced up from where she had fallen to look at the final bastard in the room, with his pants still down against his feet and his hands up in the air waving them furiously attempting to surrender as she began to hear his pleas to surrender in broken English. Sarah then watched an assaulter line up his weapon as he began to fire off at least three rounds into her weaponless abuser's chest and he dropped to the floor as the same assaulter walked over to his body to fire off several more rounds into him in what can only be described as an act of extreme malevolence.

Sarah then heard his voice once more, and she darted her glance behind herself to look at her soulmate. "YOU FUCKING SICK BASTARD!" She heard him scream lividly as she watched him hovering over that particular bastard who was on the floor cowering with his pants also around his feet as her baby landed blow after blow after blow with his hands to his face. "Please! I surrender!" She hears her abuser beg and cry in broken English as he continued to cower in fear of Sarah's soulmate.

"FUCK YOU!" She watches her baby scream into his face and watches him connect another devastating blow to that bastards face before she hears his voice again "YOU'RE NOT A SOLDIER! YOU'RE A FUCKING ANIMAL AND YOU'RE GOING TO DIE LIKE ONE YOU FUCKING BASTARD!" She hears her baby scream with more anger attached to his tone than she has ever heard from anybody ever before in her life as she then watches him spit maliciously into her abusers face which was then quickly followed by the sound of her abusers neck snapping. Sarah sighed deeply with delight as she closed her eyes briefly to revel in the feeling before opening them again as tears continued to stream down her face that had not stopped since however long she has been in this room.

Sarah continued to look at her soulmate when suddenly, an assaulter had his hands on both of Sarah's arms and was gently pulling her up from where she had fallen to help her and Sarah immediately began to panic as she was in an extreme state of shock and trauma as she starts to scream because she does not know what his intentions were. "GET AWAY FROM ME!" Sarah screams frantically in fear.

"Sarah, it's John, please let me help you!" She hears him begin to emotionally plead her but his words don't register with her, Sarah is still in a complete state of trauma and disorientation. Sarah is frantic, as she tries to fight her way free from him but she can't, she's still bound and the assaulter is holding her up because if he lets go she will fall back down again.

Then a second assaulter is suddenly helping her and they both have hold of her. Sarah immediately doubles her attempts to fight her way free to no avail as she begins to sob in fear and she closes her eyes again to cancel out all of the hurt as she begins to paint a protective picture once more. "Sarah, it's Morgan, you're safe!" The second assaulter says emotionally as he begins to take off his helmet and gently touches her shoulder. "Don't touch me!" Sarah continues to sob in fear, terrified as her body continues to shake violently. Sarah opens her eyes ever so slightly to sneak a glance at the second assaulter without his helmet and she can see the emotion in his face as his eyes are moistened but she still can't register the situation as she is still petrified. There is only one person in this room who Sarah recognizes and the second assaulter who was attempting to help her previously had now walked away and was now talking to him…

"Chuck the apartment is clear, but we have a big problem here man, they have scared the living hell out of her, I think she will only respond to you Chuck." Morgan says emotionally as he wipes his eyes as he feels physically sick and wants to vomit repeatedly because of the state that Sarah is in right now.

"I'm not surprised, the fucking sick animals have petrified her, guys leave the room and give us some space, yeah?" Chuck asks his men as he also has to wipe his own eyes just like Morgan who all nod as Chief Rodriguez quickly leaves the room and immediately begins to vomit out in the hallway, with the Master Chief and Second Class Wilson quickly following him out in to the hallway. Second Class Wilson just like his comrade also couldn't fight back his urge to vomit as he has never seen anything more sickening in his life. It hurts a thousand times more when you personally know the victim of the abuse and all of Chuck's operators felt an immense attachment towards Sarah, she was already considered as family to them.

Chief Miller stayed and held up Sarah, as the Corpsman he was trying to attend to her but she wouldn't let him as she continued to just sob and scream in fear so he just held her up while waiting for his CO to relieve him so he could probably go and join his brothers in the hallway to puke his guts. The state that Sarah is in right now and the position that the SEAL's found her in deeply hit home for all four SEAL's who assaulted the room with their CO and XO as they were all with her back stateside when she was with their spouses and it made them think of their own spouses being in that position and as such, they have no idea just what their CO is having to go through right now, they have certainly never seen him anywhere near that vicious before but the same could be applied to Morgan as the four enlisted watched him point blank executing Sarah's second abuser who was trying to surrender, though if he had not have done it, all four of them most definitely would have been happy to have done it instead.

"What do you want us to do with this bastard?" Morgan asks venomously as he pauses to nod in the direction of Sarah's informant before continuing "I left him alive, he'll probably bleed out in about an hour, but I figured you would want words with him first before he does."

"You figured right." Chuck replied with absolute conviction as he shot a deathly glare to the vile piece of scum. "But Sarah is already in a severe state of trauma and I don't think it's wise for her to see any more violence so just get that bastard out of my sight or so help me I'll kill him right now…" Chuck stated with his tone sounding viciously hostile as every part of his body was clenched with anger as he wanted to run over to him and tear his face off for how these scum have treated his soulmate, his angel, the woman he would die to protect a million times over.

"Aye sir." Replied Morgan as Chuck immediately moved to close the gap between himself and Sarah and took over responsibilities from his Corpsman as Chief Miller and Morgan quickly left the room with the piece of scum and closed the door after them. Sarah immediately stopped screaming and sobbing the second she was in the hold of Chuck's arms but her body was still violently shaking and she began to stare distantly into Chuck's eyes as Chuck strokes Sarah's hair lovingly just like he always did in a soothing gesture. "Sarah you're safe, those bastards will never harm you ever again." Chuck stated powerfully in a whisper to her. Sarah's body continued to shake and her distant stare in to Chuck's eyes continued as Chuck began to closely survey Sarah's face which looks horrifically beaten and if at all possible, as he has never been this angry ever before, Chuck's anger just tripled but he couldn't show anger right now, because of how fragile Sarah currently is and if he shows his anger, the consequences could be devastating so he has to be brave for her, he needed to soothe and calm her and to get her out of her state of shock, nothing else mattered.

While holding on to her with one hand to help her keep her balance, he ran his second hand soothingly over her cheek which caused Sarah to close her eyes at the touch and he spoke in a soothing, peaceful whisper "Sarah, do you know who I am?" It may seem like a silly question, but he had to ask, he doesn't know just how much mental trauma Sarah has experienced inside this room.

Sarah immediately nodded her head weakly and Chuck let out an immediate sigh of relief as he could very much work with this.

Chuck continued in the same tone that he had used previously "Sarah, I'm going to remove these binds from you and to do that, I need to remove my knife, please don't panic, okay?"

Sarah nodded her head once more and Chuck gently removed his knife as sudden fast hand movements would be stupendous. Chuck delicately began to remove the binds holding Sarah's hands together and on freeing her hands, he moved to kneel on one knee as Sarah held on to Chuck's shoulder as he cut free the binds around her legs. Sarah's body was no longer immobilized but she still felt extremely weak and unable to stand on her own two feet. Chuck raised himself to stand again and as soon as he did, Sarah threw herself into his frame for protection and wrapped her arms around him tightly in a death grip as she began to sob loudly into his shoulder. Tears began to stream down Chuck's face as he kissed into Sarah's hair and spoke in his same comforting, soothing whisper "I'm here baby, I'm right here..." He tells her as he comforts and soothes her in any way possible with delicate loving touches to his angel's face and kisses into her hair…

* * *

It has been a couple of minutes and the two soulmates were unchanged as Chuck comforted and soothed his angel and attempted to restore her frame of mind from dangerous levels to a level he could work with. Sarah's sobs had stopped and the room was now filled with a grim silence and Chuck decided it was time to now attempt to help make Sarah decent again.

"Sarah, we can't stay here, this area is not safe and we need to get you back to base." Chuck paused to move his head gently to connect his forehead with Sarah's and Sarah closed her eyes at his touch, she had stopped sobbing but tears continued to streak and she couldn't speak as her mind was blank and she was still in pretty significant shock. "Let's get you dressed." Chuck said in a comforting whisper as he moved his lips up to kiss her forehead. "Sarah, I want you to wear this." Chuck says as he begins to take off his body armour vest and he puts it over Sarah's head who doesn't resist as she stands rooted to the spot idle while continuing to gaze into his eyes with neither of them breaking eye contact once as Chuck adjusted the straps on either side of her shoulders before then moving his hands to adjust the straps on either side of her waist.

Chuck then broke eye contact briefly from Sarah to look around the room for his angel's clothes and as he does, he surveyed the room and it was an absolute bloodbath but the hallway was just as bad as the SEAL's had killed two out there and the ringleader was now also out there so Chuck has to work with what he has as he continues to shift his gaze around the room and he finds her clothes in a pile in a corner of the room and Chuck then immediately makes eye contact with Sarah again.

"Sarah, take my hand." Chuck says as Sarah immediately does as Chuck asked.

"Can you walk?"

"I.. I think so..." Sarah stammers weakly.

"We'll take it slow okay, just stop if you struggle." Chuck responds as he looks into her eyes and sports her his customary breathtaking smile that Sarah gets lost looking at, Chuck did this to keep her distracted.

Chuck then begins to lead her. "Don't look down Sarah, keep looking at me, okay?" Chuck says as he leads her, not breaking eye contact with her once. Sarah nods her head, as she continues to gaze into his alluring chocolate eyes. They arrived at the corner of the room several moments later and Chuck immediately knelt down to pick up the items of clothing as he began to inspect them to see what was salvageable. Sarah's blouse was ripped right through but her business suit jacket and pants were okay. "Sarah I want you to balance yourself on my shoulder okay buttercup?" Chuck said as he decided to help Sarah put her pants back on first.

Sarah gave Chuck a weak smile in response as she put her hands on Chuck's shoulder to which Chuck responded with an almighty smile back at her.

"There's the smile I love." Chuck says as he began to help Sarah put her pants back on and then quickly followed by her jacket. "All done." Chuck said in a soothing whisper while smiling at her and gently brushing his thumb over Sarah's badly beaten face.

"Are you ready to leave?" Chuck asked as he was beginning to get anxious as they had been in here for at least five minutes and the area they are in right now is an insurgent hotzone.

"Yes." Sarah replied meekly.

"Sarah, I have five of my men out in the hallway armed to the teeth, so please don't panic when you see them, they wouldn't even dream of hurting you." Chuck said reassuringly as he didn't want her to panic when she seen five soldiers in full combat gear waiting in the hallway.

"Who?" Sarah asked as she has begun to regain her senses.

"Morgan, James, John, Dan and Phil. I wanted to come on my own but they were all also worried and all wanted to make sure you were safe as well. Actually, the whole troop wanted to come but we only had two unmarked SUV's." Chuck said with a slight chuckle which earnt him a smile from Sarah.

"Come on buttercup, lets go home, if you can call it that." Chuck said with a grin as he began to lead Sarah out of the room that was home to a significant portion of violence less than ten minutes ago.

As soon as Chuck opened the door to the hallway, all of the SEAL's immediately looked in the direction of Sarah and they had all calmed down significantly and had restored most of their composure.

"Hi Sarah." Morgan said with a heartfelt tone while smiling weakly at her.

"Hey Morgan." Sarah responded as she then gave a weak smile to all five of Chuck's men who returned the gesture to her not knowing what to say to her. What can you say to somebody who has just experienced a horrific ordeal? You can't ask them how they are and you don't want to show too much pity or remorse because that will just make them think about what happened to them even more, so all five men said nothing and just shown her soothing facial expressions.

"Morgan, why don't you take Sarah to the vehicles?" Chuck paused to look at his best friend and XO who nodded his head as Morgan walked closer to Chuck and Sarah before Chuck continued further "Guys you should all probably leave as well. I don't want you to bear witness to what happens here, I want you to all have plausible deniability and I will take the responsibility on my own shoulders if it comes back on us." Chuck said as he looked at every SEAL in the room before fixing his glance onto Sarah's informant who was still alive.

The SEAL's were about to flood out the door and Morgan was about to lead Sarah when suddenly, Sarah began to wrestle Chuck's gun from his person "Sarah what are you doi-" Chuck couldn't finish as Sarah had already taken his rifle and was now standing over her informant.

All of the SEAL's looked on anxiously and Morgan mouthed to Chuck if they should attempt to intervene and Chuck shook his head no.

"I told you that you would die a painful death you fucking bastard!" Sarah spat into her informants face before kicking him hard into his torso with her stiletto where Morgan had shot him before the air was suddenly filled with the sound of Chuck's muffled suppressed assault rifle firing twice which caused all of the SEAL's to wince with discomfort at the act of brutality from Sarah, though it was well deserved it was just quite upsetting to see a woman do that, especially for Chuck as it reminded him of himself.

"You didn't see that." Morgan warned sternly as he glanced at all four of his enlisted intimidatingly.

"See what? I don't even know what you are talking about..." The Master Chief replied with a blank face showing absolutely no emotion.

"I have been at the indoor pool all evening." Chief Rodriguez smirked.

"I've been working on topping up my tan all evening." Second Class Wilson responded to his XO.

"I was having a barbecue with the rest of the guys on base." Chief Miller joked.

"Good man." Morgan retorted to Chief Miller as he patted him on the shoulder while he nodded at them all approvingly for what they just did as Sarah walked back in to the close proximity of Chuck and handed him back his rifle with a huge smile on her face as she hugged into him. Chuck continued to look at Sarah nervously, as he wasn't sure what she just did would help her state of mind all that much but she only did what he would have done anyway. The SEAL's plus Sarah then began to swiftly depart the apartment to head for their exit vehicles.

* * *

Several minutes later

Chuck, Sarah and Morgan were now inside one of the two SEAL SUV's that the SEAL's had arrived in and Morgan was driving following the lead vehicle when Sarah suddenly sprung from where she was sitting in the back to hug Morgan affectionately.

"Woah, easy Sarah! I'm about to crash the vehicle!" Morgan laughed emotionally as he lost control of the vehicle briefly and it swerved because of the contact from Sarah. "Sorry." Sarah laughed as she let go of her grip around him and sat back again. "Thank you so much for coming for me Morgan." Sarah said with a heart-felt and sincere tone as she began to get very emotional.

"Sarah, Chuck is my brother in everything but name, so that makes you my sister." Morgan laughed out with a grin and Sarah also giggled as a radiant smile lit up on her face. "You will never be alone Sarah, NEVER." Morgan stated solemnly as all three of the companions eyes became watery with deep affinity toward each other.

Sarah then turned her attentions towards Chuck who was sitting opposite her in the back of the SUV. "You came for me." Sarah said emotionally as tears streamed down her face.

"I will always come for you Sarah. ALWAYS." Chuck responded with a level of conviction that Sarah has never seen from him before as Sarah leapt into his arms and kissed him on his lips very slowly and gently and with a great affection towards him.

When parting for much needed air from the kiss, Sarah rested her forehead against Chuck's. "How?" Sarah asks a simple one worded question with her lips millimeters away from Chuck's and Chuck immediately understands the meaning of the question she just asked him.

"We tracked your vehicle to the market via satellite and then set up surveillance. We then seen your abduction and followed you to that apartment which was about thirty minutes drive from the market. I know I did what you told me not to but I just would not be able to live with myself if I didn't follow you and I lost you, I'm sorry." Chuck began to ramble on emotionally, trademark Chuck style not thinking straight because he absolutely wasn't sorry, if he hadn't done what he did, then he doesn't even want to think about what happens to her instead…

"You saved me." Sarah responds before immediately crashing her lips back against his once more. This kiss however, was a lot more passionate and deep than the earlier loving kiss that they shared just previously as Sarah's tongue quickly found its way into her baby's mouth as she ran her hands all over his hair affectionately...

 **FOB Midnight**

The two SEAL SUV's just arrived back on their base and Sarah's frame of mind was much better than how she had been inside her now deceased informants apartment. Sarah had her composure back and she was very much in control of her mind and body again.

The seven American companions all exited their vehicles and linked up together and Sarah rushed to hug and emotionally thank every single one of the enlisted SEAL's who had collectively rescued her together in a joint effort as tears were shed by all of the SEAL's in that particular encounter as remarks similar to the ones that she had heard from Morgan were shared with her.

 **FOB Midnight**

 **Sarah's Quarters**

Chuck and Sarah had just entered into Sarah's quarters and Sarah immediately hugged into Chuck, as the two soulmates shared intimacy. Sarah began to kiss Chuck again and this kiss was a whole lot more intimate as nobody was in their company any more. "I love you." Sarah stated emotionally and very vulnerable when they parted for air.

'It's now or never Chuck, she needs you right now more than she ever has.' Chuck's mind raced to itself. "I love you too." Chuck almost instantly responded as they touched foreheads lovingly to pause for a long moment in the warm touch of one another. "Come on, lets get you cleaned up beautiful." Chuck states eventually as he takes her hands and leads her into her washing room inside her cabin.

Arriving inside the second room of her cabin, Chuck immediately went to work on cleaning up Sarah's badly beaten face and Sarah gazed affectionately into Chuck's eyes as Chuck paused every so often to smile radiantly at her.

"Sarah, why don't you change and put on your night wear?" Chuck suggests to Sarah once he had finished tidying her up as he began to slowly attempt to leave for the door but Sarah was still holding onto his hand stopping him.

"Please don't leave." Sarah replied with her tone sounding very vulnerable and exposed.

"Sarah, I am going no where I promise you, I'll be right behind this door just call me if you need me and I will be right in okay?" Chuck replied sincerely as Sarah reluctantly let go of his hand and let him leave the room and Chuck gently shut the door to give Sarah privacy before beginning to sigh deeply to himself as he ran his hand over his face as thoughts began to race through his mind concerning everything that happened inside that apartment. Chuck has to find out just how far the abuse went with Sarah, either way it didn't matter one single bit to Chuck, but if anything like that did happen then they need to get Sarah checked out by a doctor immediately, but how can you start that conversation? Chuck isn't sure how to go about asking Sarah what he needs to know and he feels deeply sick inside as he can't shake clear those thoughts from his mind.

 **Several minutes later**

The situation was still unchanged, Chuck was waiting extremely patiently for Sarah to change when he began to hear quiet sobs. Chuck's heart instantly fluttered and he immediately opened the door and darted back inside and Sarah turned to face him and Chuck hugged his vulnerable angel. "Sarah, sweetheart what's wrong? You're safe. Try not to think about it okay?" Chuck says comfortingly as he pets his soulmate with affectionate touches and warm facial expressions.

"I'm sorry." Sarah replied very emotionally while wiping her eyes referring to everything that happened between the lovers prior to her being abducted.

"Heyyyy.. Buttercup you have absolutely nothing to be sorry for. Let's get you to bed. You must be exhausted." Chuck replies lovingly.

"Will you stay with me?" Sarah asks in a pleading tone as she gazes into her baby's eyes.

"Of course I will sweetheart. I am going nowhere." Chuck said with conviction. "Unless you want me to." Chuck added in with light humour to try and cheer Sarah up.

"Never leave me Chuck! Promise me you will never leave me!" Sarah began to sob as she got very frantic. 'So much for cheering her up Chuck..' Chuck sighed to himself.

"Sarah, I will never leave you. I'm yours for as long as you want me, I promise you." Chuck stated truthfully from the heart.

"Forever! I want you forever!" Sarah replied still watery eyed.

"Good, that's settled then." Chuck said as he smiled and deeply hugged his angel.

 **Twenty minutes later**

Chuck was still soothing and comforting his angel after today's ordeal and the unanswered question still racing through his mind was eating him alive.

Chuck began to stroke Sarah's hair, as the soulmates looked into each others eyes from where they were laying on Sarah's bed together facing each other. "Sarah, I have to know something. Did they?" Chuck stopped mid sentence as he was unable to complete the sentence as he began to choke up and tears began to stream out of his eyes as he tenderly touched her cheek.

Sarah shook her head no very weakly, before immediately burying herself into Chuck's chest as she began to sob again. Chuck let out a huge sigh of relief while wrapping his arm protectively around Sarah's back as he then kissed into her hair. "They were probably milliseconds away Chuck! Oh my god, I thought I was going to die!" Sarah continued to sob into Chuck's chest as Chuck strengthens his grip even further around her as he begins to reassuringly comfort her "Nobody will ever touch a single hair on your head ever again Sarah, I swear to you..." He tells her with absolute conviction as the two soulmates continue to emotionally connect with each other as Chuck continues to comfort and soothe his buttercup until she falls asleep safely in the comfort of his arms…

Enter of Chapter.

 **A/N**

Okay, here goes; Guys, I don't think I could ever write a story where a woman actually got raped, that's just disgusting. But I'm a tension/ suspense writer and I use any possible scenes at my disposal to achieve that goal, if the last scene in 22 offended you I really do apologize, I actually cried writing a large portion of that scene, it was sickening. I didn't want to add a pretty coating onto the scene and make it seem better than it was. I wanted it to be grim, as some people do suffer that sickening form of abuse which is why it made me so upset to write it. Sarah got very lucky, in real life in that situation/scenario, nobody is coming to help her unfortunately and she ends up on the news as another casualty of war…

Also, my inspiration for how violent Chuck was behaving in this chapter is laudanol. And him seeing the state that Sarah was in set off a deep rage inside his brain that caused him to act as if he had effectively taken a laudanol pill.

So I want to end this chapter in saying that my heart deeply and sincerely goes out to every single victim of abuse, and I'm not condoning it or promoting it in any stories I tell, quite the contrary, I loathe it...

Please review, thanks...


	24. The Cover Up Part One

**Chapter Twenty Four**

 **The Cover Up Part One**

 **FOB Midnight**

 **Iraq**

 **4 October**

 **20:00 hours**

Sarah was presently laying on the bed inside her quarters hugged closely into the duvet as she breathed in the masculine scent of the love of her life, the man of her dreams from where he had been laying much earlier in the day. This particular room that Sarah is inside has played host to several deep conversations and moments shared between herself and her soul mate in the one month that they have been here, as today marks the end of the first month that Chuck and Sarah have been posted to the Middle East for their respective jobs.

Sarah was unable to shake clear the butterflies that were shooting throughout her stomach, and the cause of those butterflies was Chuck himself, as Chuck was out of base, deployed on his usual Special Forces activities as he headed up a team that was presently out conducting raids in the hunt of insurgents.

Sarah continued to experience deep feelings of unease about her soulmate, which didn't show any signs of easing any time soon and nor would they, until he was back safe in her arms when suddenly, her satellite phone began to beep rapidly. The beeping sound emitting from Sarah's satellite phone immediately distracted Sarah from her deep thoughts momentarily as she fixed her glance towards her phone while proceeding to sit up from where she was resting as she began to walk over to where she had her phone on the drawer. Arriving at the drawer, Sarah picked up her satellite phone and fixed her glance onto the small LCD display of the phone which displayed a simple message, it read "Agent Walker, report to a FOB Midnight Operations Centre for video conference, Director Graham."

Sarah suddenly began to feel one hundred times more anxious than she was already presently feeling, due to the nature of the communication that she had just received. Sarah usually receives her job orders or things like status reports of operations via the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, which is host to the main CIA Base of Operations in the Middle East and she is very rarely in conversation with the CIA Director himself. In fact, since this posting began one month ago, Sarah had only been in contact with the CIA Director twice, and both of those times were in relation to her flawed operation to bring her informant to the table, which almost cost Sarah her life, or at the very minimum, destroying her entire mental well-being permanently.

"Don't panic Sarah, you have rehearsed this for five days straight now." Sarah told herself while pacing around her quarters as her mind immediately came to a conclusion in regards to what the Director had requested her presence for.

Sarah took a final few minutes to compose herself before proceeding to head to where she was ordered to go.

* * *

 **FOB Midnight**

 **Operation Centre Charlie**

Arriving inside one of three operations centres several minutes later, Sarah immediately walked over to an unoccupied booth so she could set up a video transmission with the director of the CIA. The effects of what had happened to Sarah five days previously were hidden as best as possible, Sarah's face wasn't completely healed or fresh looking from the abduction, but it was the best she could do and she would attempt to bluff her way out of any line of questioning if questions concerning that topic were brought up, and as to what had actually occurred five days ago, Sarah would completely deny any involvement or knowledge of what had happened to her informant at that safe house, as far as Sarah is concerned, she had tried to regain contact with her informant at the café after Chuck had pulled the operation the day previously but he didn't show at Sarah's second attempt to meet with him again. And to cover her tracks even further, Sarah each day since she was abducted had attempted to regain contact with her informant and had logged it as proof if ever needed. Sarah was absolutely sure that this was the only way she could keep Chuck safe from any repercussions, and if it could ever be proven that Sarah had indeed been abducted by her informant, Sarah would admit to being abducted but vehemently deny Chuck or his men ever being involved in her rescue. Sarah had decided that her cover story would be that her rescuers were Israeli Mossad Agents, as her informant had concrete proven links to have been selling the arms that his faction had stockpiled from the remnants of Saddam Hussein's army divisions to terrorist factions inside Lebanon.

Director Graham appeared on the other end of the video conference a few moments later, he was also accompanied by two of his aids.

On appearing live via video transmission with the Director, Sarah and the Director immediately entered into an awkward state of silence as they began to closely scour each others facial expressions as if they both had an untold question and were attempting to get answers via studying the face of one another.

The awkward silence was finally broken moments later by Director Graham "Agent Walker, it has been several days since the botched operation to attain the information Ibrahim El Shabrawy had promised us, do you have anything further to report?" Upon finishing his question, the Director immediately once more began to survey the body language of his young intelligence employee.

Sarah's brain quickly processed what the Director had just asked her as she prepared her response, her facial expressions showing absolutely nothing that could give the game away whilst deep inside, Sarah's heart was pumping a million beats per second, the consequences could be dire if she is found out because of the nature of how Ibrahim and some of his men had died.

Sarah took a final second to prepare her response, before responding confidently and professionally "I have nothing further to report other than what I had faxed over to the Embassy on Saturday. I had attempted to re initiate contact with Ibrahim and to meet him again at that same Market that Commander Bartowski pulled the initial operation from. Ibrahim was a no show and didn't turn up to the meeting, he also ignored all further communication attempts from myself and the last time I was in contact was September 29th and he has gone dark ever since." Sarah finished, as the two intelligence figures began to once more study the expressions of each other. To an observer watching on, it would look as if they were playing a game of cat and mouse, or bluffing in a poker game. It was like the master versus the apprentice, as they attempted to checkmate each other.

"Well in that case, I can update you on the situation. I'm afraid that I have some concerning news Agent Walker, Ibrahim El Shabrawy has been found dead along with several other of his associates inside a suburb of Baghdad." Upon finishing his revelation, the Director immediately once more began to survey the body language of his intelligence employee.

Sarah's face immediately turned to mock shock as she visibly gasped as she attempted to cover all of her tracks. 'Just what does he know? Does he know what happened? Does he know what Chuck and his men did, what I did?' Sarah's mind raced to itself.

"I was absolutely not aware of that." Sarah responded almost immediately, not breaking eye contact from the much older figure once.

"You should be receiving an informative communique very shortly Agent Walker, but the low-down is that a patrol of U.S. Marines found Ibrahim inside a safe house he had been using, after they were flagged down by bystanders nearby, there are seven dead inside."

"Who carried out the killing? He was at war with several rival factions." Sarah replied as she offered a possible explanation leading far away from the actual truth.

"As of right now? Your guess is as good as mine. The explanation that you offered is the most logical explanation of course, and I will leave it in your hands as Ibrahim's handler to investigate it further, and to come to your conclusions, keep me informed, that will be all Agent Walker, enjoy the rest of your evening."

"Yes sir, thank you, you too." Sarah said nodding her head affirmatively as Director Graham ended the transmission.

As soon as the communication ended, Sarah moved to sit back in her chair and breathed out an enormous sigh. Sarah knew the Director knew something, otherwise he wouldn't have asked her if she had anything to report despite already knowing that her informant was deceased, Graham had tried to trick her in to making a blunder and revealing something that she would have only known had she had been there, so it was an attempted mind trick by the experienced official but he couldn't prove it, even if he knew that Sarah had some involvement in Ibrahim's death he had no proof, Sarah was confident he had no basis to prove any involvement concerning Sarah, and more importantly, Chuck…

* * *

 **CIA Headquarters**

 **Director Graham's Office**

 **Langley**

 **United States**

"Langston, what do you think happened to Ibrahim, do you think Agent Walker was involved somehow?" Assistant Director Beckman asked her boss as Assistant Director Beckman's Junior Assistant also listened in as the three senior intelligence officials engaged in a discussion amongst themselves.

"I think the SEAL's were involved, it has them written all over it, the expert precision, not a single track or a scrap of evidence left behind for us to pin on them. It's either them or Mossad." The Director paused as Beckman and her assistant sunk in the information relayed as he then continued on further "Though if I was forced in to guessing, I think something went horribly wrong concerning Agent Walker and the SEAL's came to her rescue."

"Do you wish us to proceed with a line of investigation?" Assistant Director Beckman asked Graham.

Director Graham immediately vehemently shook his head "No, absolutely not! I want it buried and written off as just another rival faction dispute, even if Agent Walker was involved, she's too good of an Agent to lose, so please see that course of action is carried out immediately, that will be all Diane." Director Graham ended the brief conversation shared amongst the three highest employees of the CIA.

Assistant Director Beckman nodded her head in agreement with her boss as the three senior intelligence officials began to part ways...

* * *

 **FOB Midnight**

It had been two hours since Sarah had been in contact with the director of the CIA, and Sarah hadn't been able to stop thinking about the encounter. Sarah needed to inform Chuck of the development, she wanted to keep no secrets from Chuck, she wanted this to be a joint thing that they would work through together. In the days that have followed since Sarah's abduction and subsequent rescue, Sarah had decided almost immediately that she wanted to focus solely on the positives of what had happened, rather than dwell on the awful experience. The positive things that came of course, was the rescue. Chuck had came for her and had saved her, when Sarah was all alone in the world without help, he came for her and if possible, it only furthered her love for him. They are better together, and Sarah will never do anything alone ever again.

Chuck was due back from his operation any moment, and Sarah was out on the base waiting for him near the helicopter landing zones.

* * *

 **Super Six One**

 **Iraqi Airspace**

"I hope the CIA will be happy with the latest human test subjects we are bringing back to them." Morgan joked as he nodded his head towards two captured insurgents from the raid Chuck's team have just carried out.

"I think you might be being just a little bit naive there buddy, I don't think I have ever seen the CIA happy." Chuck laughed back to his XO who immediately began to snort in agreement.

"Two minutes to landing Commander Bartowski." The Night Stalker Major piloting Six One reported to Chuck.

"Thanks again for the ride Jonas." Chuck says sincerely on comms to his Army pal.

"We're happy to be of service Chuck." The Army Major retorted in kind as the two pals shared smiles on their faces.

"Jeez, get a room you two!" Master Chief Garcia interrupted the two Military Officer's conversation.

"We've tried, it didn't work, he's too big to share a bed with!" Chuck laughs back as the sound of fourteen Americans laughing erupts on the communications channel.

"If only there were ejector seats back there! We should probably get these Hawk's modified in time for when you jokers next take a ride with us." Major Jonas Eastwood retorted causing the laughter to extend.

"Besides, I can't see Sarah wanting to share you with somebody else any time soon Chuck, scratch that, I can't see her EVER sharing you." Morgan jokes as the grins of the American military personnel extend even wider.

"I can testify in defence of that statement, when I told Sarah that Kate Myers kissed the CO I had to calm her down!" Chief Rodriguez laughs out.

"Yeah and I tried to join them in bed last week and Sarah kicked my ass out the door!" Chief Miller laughs.

"Yeah, then she also kicked my ass out and I had to join you in your bunk." Chuck retorts.

"Dammit sir this is an open channel, why did you have to go and tell everybody our little secret!" Chief Miller immediately retorts causing the Americans to become even more hysteric with laughter.

"Besides, my wife is already becoming suspicious of Chuck. So I think we should start spending less time together. I'm sorry Chuck, it's over." The Night Stalker joked as laughter on-board the two American gunships climaxed at an all time high as the two Hawks finally began to descend into their base of operations.

* * *

 **FOB Midnight Landing Zone**

The fourteen Americans and their two captured insurgents had touched down on two of the landing zones of FOB Midnight and began to depart their transports as four frogmen began to escort their captives to the detection facility on base, and the rest of the Military personnel minus Chuck, Morgan and Master Chief Garcia who were to conduct a debriefing began to retire for the evening.

"I'll join you guys in a few minutes inside the Situation Room." Chuck said to his XO and Senior Enlisted as he spotted Sarah and wanted to spend a few minutes alone with her first before his mini debriefing.

"Sure, take as long as you need sir, we're gonna go grab a coffee any way." Morgan responded to his CO as he patted Chuck on the shoulder before Morgan and the Master Chief walked away in the company of one another leaving Chuck alone close to Sarah.

Chuck waited until Morgan and Master Chief Garcia were out of Chuck and Sarah's proximity before he closed the gap to Sarah, and just like every other time he had seen her when coming back from an operation, he wanted nothing more than to just kiss her, but he had a hard time breaking his Military protocols, as he was still on duty and as much as he wanted to show and express intimacy, he obeyed his code of conduct, at least in view of everybody else, in their respective private quarters however, well that's a whole different ballgame…

"Hi." Chuck said simply with an elegant smile.

"Hi."Sarah retorted in kind, her face lit up radiantly as she sported the exact same smile as her lover back at him.

Sarah however didn't share the same reservations about expressing intimacy publicly, as she moved to hug into her lover, causing Chuck to awkwardly glance around in fear of anybody spotting them, before eventually surrendering himself to his soul mate, and fully committing to the hug. Sarah moments later then moved to adjust her face and Chuck thought she was about to kiss him, but her lips found their way to his left ear instead.

"We need to talk." Sarah whispered into Chuck's ear.

Chuck immediately lifted his head back to query the context of the question, and as he did, he noticed a serious look of concern on Sarah's face.

"Is everything okay?" Chuck asked anxiously as he immediately became concerned himself.

"I'll tell you later." Sarah responded, unwilling to share the development she had uncovered earlier in open air, despite nobody being around.

"Uh sure, okay." Chuck replied anxiously as he had no clue what this was all about.

"I have to uh, finish a debriefing with Morgan and James first, if that's okay?"

"Sure." Sarah shot back in response, nodding her head acceptingly.

"I'll come to you?" Sarah offered.

"Yeah, thirty minutes?"

"That's fine. I'll see you then."

"Okay." Chuck replied and the two lovers then began to reluctantly let go of each others hand that they were holding on to while in conversation, but not before Sarah whispered a final thing into her lovers ear.

"I love you." Sarah stated unconditionally.

"I love you too." Chuck responded in kind which earnt him a giddy grin and a little giggle of approval from Sarah as she is still in a complete feeling of wonderment whenever Chuck would say those words to her again after an excruciatingly long six and a half year absence of expressing her love with her soul mate…

 **A/N**

Small enough chapter, but I wanted to post something, I think it has been 5-6 weeks since my last update so yeah.. I've not forgotten you guys! I'm just super busy etc, I would estimate that this story has about twenty chapters remaining.

Part 2 = The talk, which leads to a mini argument as Charah share a disagreement and aren't you just curious as to how they resolve it? ;)


	25. The Cover Up Finale

Hello my dearest Chuck friends. I've done a little polishing (or a lot, depending on how you view it) of the story to make it more readable. I also changed a few things as I may have gotten a little ahead of myself at the time in having Morgan fight five Marines at a bar for example. (LOL!) Also, in Chapter 23 having looked back at the story after my sabbatical, I wholly concur with reviews that stated that baby wasn't the right term even though that's what Sarah had always called Chuck- So I decided to change it to something much more powerful (and should have thought of at the time, as I had already structured something powerful in 19.) These are just a few examples of small changes that don't have any effect on the actual story.

My reason for being gone for two years? I wish I could state that it was something glamorous and that I'd gone off and got married to the love of my life (still waiting for him to ask so if you're reading this hurry up) or something but the truth is this: depression, sadly. I'm not afraid or too private to admit that as I feel that if you face and confront your problems head on then they're easier to deal with so yeah, that's why I've been gone as it caused severe writer's block and I didn't feel up to publishing on this website primarily because somebody would not leave my story alone and kept attacking it throughout the course of the story and I didn't want to face any more of that negativity in my already difficult state of mind, so that's why I left.

* * *

 _Previously;_

 _"Well in that case, I can update you on the situation. I'm afraid that I have some concerning news Agent Walker, Ibrahim El Shabrawy has been found dead along with several other of his associates inside a suburb of Baghdad." Upon finishing his revelation, the Director immediately once more began to survey the body language of his intelligence employee._

 _Sarah's face immediately turned to mock shock as she visibly gasped as she attempted to cover all of her tracks. 'Just what does he know? Does he know what happened? Does he know what Chuck and his men did, what I did?' Sarah's mind raced to itself._

 _"We need to talk." Sarah whispered into Chuck's ear._

* * *

 **Chapter Twenty Five**

 **The Cover Up Finale**

 **4 October**

 **FOB Midnight**

 **Iraq**

Sarah was now outside Chuck's Quarters and was waiting patiently for him to answer and while she waited Sarah breathed out a deep sigh to herself as she attempted to gather her thoughts. In Sarah's mind, the upcoming discussion that will be shared between Chuck and Sarah will play a pivotal role in allowing both Chuck and Sarah to map out how they intend to bury what had happened in that safe house that Chuck had rescued Sarah from just five days previously...

Sarah is certain the CIA Director suspects her with some involvement in the death of her informant Ibrahim El Shabrawy but she is also convinced that he does not possess a single shred of proof and nor will any potential investigation by her bosses turn up any evidence so ultimately, Sarah believes the only way that herself and Chuck can be caught out is if they dig themselves into their own grave by slipping up. The safest thing for Sarah and Chuck to do right now is to simply play it cool and to allow any flames currently lit to just extinguish themselves on their own without any help from either of them at all, and to stay completely away from anything related to Ibrahim whatsoever and Sarah is about to suggest this course of action to Chuck.

Sarah was still in deep thoughts over her course of action when Chuck hurriedly appeared from behind the now open door to his portable cabin several moments later and Sarah's entire thought process that she had collected prior to Chuck answering has just been decimated as Sarah's brain melted entirely at the sight of her long-term lovers physique as he stood shirtless in the doorway.

Seeing the physical change that Chuck had undergone since they were last together in college is something that Sarah will never get used to, or at least not until they reconnect intimately at least, as Sarah is still full of a lust and an immense yearning that she has carried on her shoulders for many, many years after her deep and consequential mistakes six years previously.

Sarah continued her state of reverie with her breath held and it continued for a brief moment until it was finally interrupted by a humorously and pleasantly baffled Chuck as he couldn't understand what would cause somebody as beautiful as Sarah to ogle over him as she was doing.

"Hello? I'm up here." Chuck stated in a very tongue in cheek manner.

Sarah snapped out of her trance and raised her eyes up to make eye contact with Chuck and as she did she began to smile shyly at him.

"Uh, sorry, uh, hi!" Sarah replies as she struggles to overcome her fluster and she began to giggle like a love struck puppy.

"Hi" Chuck laughed back at how cute Sarah was behaving before proceeding to extend out his arm to invite Sarah inside. "Come in," Chuck states while ushering her inside with his hands.

"I'll be back out in a few minutes, make yourself at home."

"Okay." Sarah replied as she moved to sit on Chuck's bed to wait patiently for him to return so they can have their conversation.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Chuck returned minutes later from the second room now fully freshened up from his operation and was now wearing some casual loose fitting clothes as the humidity in the air of this country was sapping them of energy.

"Okay, I'm all yours," Chuck stated on arriving back inside the same room as Sarah.

"Uh-huh, yes you are." Sarah happily states before proceeding to smirk in great satisfaction on hearing his remarks even though they were intended in a different context as she then stands up from where she was seated to move towards him and proceeds to wrap her arms around his sadly now clothed torso as Chuck reciprocates the action leading to even greater satisfaction from Sarah on feeling his manly arms locked around her lower back and holding her firmly in place. Sarah then moved to lean her head to rest on his shoulder before feeling his chin resting on the top of her head in reply as she began to revel in the touch of the man she should never have left and will spend the rest of her life making up those mistakes to him and even then she's not sure that they would be forgiven and even...

"So Sarah, not that I don't love to break numerous military regulations by having the most beautiful woman that I have ever seen in my whole life here in my quarters with me, but dare I ask what you wanted to talk about?" Chuck says while continuing to enjoy the embrace that the young couple had locked themselves in.

"First, this." Sarah states as she moves her head back from where it was resting and briefly regretting the loss of contact but not for long as she soon moved to lock her lips together with his own. "Mmm." Sarah moaned into Chuck's mouth which almost caused his eyes to pop out of their sockets on just how attractive that noise had sounded to him as his body temperature increased about a gazillion percent...

And after a long moment of Sarah doing things with her tongue that Chuck didn't even think possible, their mouths came apart gasping for air but not without telltale facial expressions that gave away the passion they'd just experienced as they shared eye contact between one another that only two people that had deeply fallen for one another would make.

"Sarah, if we're going to have a serious conversation any time soon then I don't think you should make noises like the ones you just did in my mouth any more." Chuck stated eventually after a long moment of trying to kick-start his brain into gear once more.

A very contemplating look appeared on Sarah's face as she attempted and successfully got her brain working enough to understand dialogue as she was so smitten by the man of her dreams "Oh?" came Sarah's response eventually, with her mind not even registering the very important conversation they needed to have as a mischievous look now appeared on Sarah's face as she contemplated going in for seconds and giving him more.

"Don't you even think about it Missy!" Chuck warned on sensing she was about to go right back in for more. "Do you know what would happen to me if we got caught like this?" Chuck stressed.

"Wouldn't it be worth it?" Sarah moans seductively while giving him come to bed eyes.

"Yes!" Chuck eagerly states under her hypnosis.

On hearing his response Sarah immediately giggles sweetly feeling very satisfied with herself.

"I love you." Sarah suddenly vulnerably states to him as they continue that same compromising eye contact that neither of them break once.

"I love you too." Comes Chuck's response in the very same vulnerable tone.

And on sensing that Sarah was now about 2.1 seconds away from dragging him onto his bed and having her way with him which Chuck still wasn't ready for he proceeded to try to put their expressions of love on the back-burner. "I have a funny feeling the next conversation is about to be a whole lot deeper Sarah."

Sarah immediately poked at Chuck's chest in response with a finger in a very offended manner because he didn't think her previous conversation was deep enough, 'I'll show him deep!' she thought before snapping out of it at the last second and attempting to get serious and kick-start her brain that had been turned to mush by her lover, though he'd not really done anything and it was generally her fault but she blamed him anyway! It's his own fault for being so darn handsome!

"Sarah?" Chuck inquired after a few seconds of not getting a response.

Sarah snapped out of her thoughts about the very same man that had just disturbed her. "Sorry," Sarah replied sheepishly. "You're just so beautiful I get all hazed." Sarah states truthfully.

Now Chuck began to get flushed as he blushed before he gave his head a good wobble from side to side. "Sarah, as our minds are pretty mushy right now, let's try this again..." Chuck says before he turns from Sarah and begins to walk back to the door leading to his second room before walking through the door and closing it briefly after him before coming right back out again causing Sarah to laugh at his humour.

"So, what did you want to talk about?" Chuck says with a wide grin causing Sarah to burst into laughter harder than just previously, followed by Chuck joining in with her as the lovers now finally after what seemed like an eternity, got started on their intended conversation...

"Sorry, we got a little carried away there didn't we." Sarah admits.

"A little?" Chuck retorted.

"Ok, a lot." Sarah replied as she continued to laugh.

"One minute we're hugging and next we're going Back to the Future." Chuck replied jokingly.

Sarah burst into laughter once more and luckily she hadn't took a sip of a drink, else it would have been all over Chuck's quarters right now.

"Ok… Serious faces only now for the next two or three minutes if we can make it that quick." Sarah said with a bit of mischievousness still attached to her tone and facial expressions before putting her thoughts of Chuck to the back of her mind for now...

"Ok," Chuck agreed as they then moved to sit together next to one another on Chuck's bed and begin their conversation.

"While you were out on operations earlier I had a call from Director Graham and other heads of the CIA." Sarah paused to look into the eyes of Chuck as she began to notice a look of worry appear on his face which was matching her own.

"Go on." Chuck replied as he encouraged Sarah to continue.

"He asked me if I had any knowledge of what happened to that bastard." Sarah replied, unwilling to call that traitorous pig by name.

"And what did you tell him?"

Sarah paused dumb-founded briefly at Chuck's question. "What do you think I told him? I told him I had absolutely no idea what he was talking about. I told him the last contact I had from him was at the failed meeting that you pulled me from."

Chuck immediately shook his head disapprovingly at Sarah before replying, "Sarah, I wish you wouldn't have done that. You agreed not to say anything until you had spoken with me."

"What other choice did I have Chuck? You weren't there. You were out on mission."

"Sarah, I'm not comfortable with lying to the head of the CIA, it's dangerous. I think you're being a bit reckless." Chuck replied worryingly as he didn't like cloak and dagger stuff and he thought it was the wrong way to operate.

Sarah shook her head in disagreement with what Chuck had just said to her. "So what, you wanted me to tell him the truth?" Sarah scoffed at the suggestion she had just made because of the sheer consequences that would surely accompany it, before continuing again, "I had no other choice Chuck. I can't let anything happen to you and besides it's done now, it's too late."

But Chuck was prepared to accept all of the responsibility. Chuck was prepared to say he had acted alone and had rescued Sarah and he would take the blame. But how was Sarah supposed to accept that? There would be an investigation and Chuck would almost certainly go to jail for something that he didn't deserve to be jailed for. The investigators didn't have to witness the state that Sarah was in but Chuck and his team did have to. Ninety nine percent of all human-beings on the planet would have reacted in a violent fashion on seeing first-hand a loved one being in the condition that Sarah was in at that horrible moment that she never wants to think about ever again. Chuck didn't deserve to be punished for that. Plus her and Morgan had also killed somebody, and Chuck was prepared to take all of the blame? Even Morgan would have done the exact same thing that Sarah did in that communique with the CIA Director.

"Sarah, you did have another choice you should have told the truth. I was prepared to accept the responsibility on my own shoulders." Chuck said in disagreement with Sarah.

Sarah immediately shook her head disapprovingly in response. "Are you being for real Chuck? Do you know what the consequences of that would be?" Sarah said as the lovers began to quarrel in a heated debate inside the confines of Chuck's quarters.

"Of course I know the consequences Sarah. I was there!" Chuck snapped back at his girlfriend.

Sarah had now stood up on her feet in the middle of Chuck's cabin. "Were you there Chuck? Because you don't sound like you were! Unless you've forgotten the fact that your best friend Morgan executed somebody! I suppose that was you too?" Sarah shouted in close proximity to Chuck as she began to get angry at Chuck's ridiculous behaviour.

"Leave Morgan out of this!" Chuck demanded and was now also on his feet as they continued to quarrel while not breaking eye contact with one another.

"OK, I will! Then what about me? What about who I killed Chuck?" Sarah paused as the couple glared daggers at one another, before she continued, "Are you going to take the blame for me also? Because I won't let you! How is that telling the truth Chuck? You wouldn't be telling the truth either, you would be doing the exact same thing that I did! So stop all of this hypocrisy bullcrap!" Sarah snapped back into the face of her boyfriend as they continued to go back and forth.

"Sarah, I was not brought up to lie or deceive. For a few minutes I lost control. No, I was completely out of control and I should have faced responsibility for my actions!"

Sarah shook her head in disagreement. "I'm sorry Chuck. But I'm not prepared to see you go to jail. You're a hero and regardless, I love you too much. I would do ANYTHING to protect you!" Sarah stated vehemently.

Now it was Chuck's turn to disapprovingly shake his head. "Sarah, I can't believe what you've just said. You would cover up unlawful killing?!" Chuck paused for the briefest of moments as the lovers still not breaking eye contact continued to stand face-to-face in the middle of Chuck's cabin as they heatedly argued with one another. "That's just wrong Sarah. You're willing to engage in a cover up? I don't think I know who you are right now! You're not behaving rationally!" Chuck argued at her.

"I'm not behaving rationally?! I'm not the one trying to take the rap and cover up for your best friend and lover who also unlawfully killed people just like you!" Sarah screamed back into the face of Chuck as the heated debate turned into an almighty one.

"Sarah, we wouldn't even be in this mess if you hadn't did what you did and not trusted me!"

"That's a completely different thing! Don't change the subject because you know you're wrong!" Sarah snapped back into her boyfriends face.

"No, it's not a different subject! What you did Sarah was stupid and reckless! You nearly got yourself killed!" Chuck fired right back at her.

"I know it was!" Sarah snapped back in response as they continued to exchange glaring daggers.

"Do you?" Chuck snapped back immediately.

"Yes!"

"I don't think you do Sarah, you need to understand that your actions have consequences." Chuck said in a calmer voice to attempt to diffuse the situation between the quarreling lovers.

Sarah laughed mockingly at him. "Oh, so you want to speak about actions Chuck? Well what about your actions when you kill people on missions and bottle up your feelings and wont let me in?"

"Sarah, my actions have nothing to do with this!" Chuck snapped back defensively.

Sarah laughed ironically as they continued to stand rooted to the spot trading verbal blows with one another. "Oh, but mine have? What makes you immune from the criticism but not me?!"

"I didn't nearly get myself killed Sarah!" Chuck shouts back as they continue to tear at each others throats.

Sarah pauses from the onslaught and takes a deep breath to calm down from arguing with her nerd who she would sooner do a hundred different things with than argue. "Chuck, can we please not argue? I can't bear it when we fight!" Sarah admits dejectedly as she tries to make it up with him.

Chuck shook his head no in disagreement, before responding "No Sarah, this has been coming all week. I need to hear you say it. I need you to promise me that you won't ever make a decision like that again before consulting and respecting my professional opinion first!"

Sarah eyes began to get glossy and she got emotional not being able to hold it in any more as Chuck sent her fully over the edge. "OK! Fine!" Sarah snapped. "You want to see me broken? Well here it is! I was stupid! I almost got myself killed, and you, but more importantly you! Is this what you wanted to hear Chuck? Are you happy now?" Sarah paused and she now began to wipe the tears that had came from her face with her arm "But at least I'm not an emotionless robot like you that won't let me in!"

"I would sooner be a robot than an idiot Sarah!" Chuck said as he began to now turn away from Sarah and look in the direction of the second room of his quarters.

"Chuck, where are you going?!" Sarah demanded.

"I need to go into the other room to cool off!" Chuck replied before attempting to walk towards the door.

"Chuck, don't walk away from me! This conversation is not finished!" Sarah yelled as she forcefully pulls at his arm to force him to turn back around to face her which causes their bodies to now crash into one another with their faces inches apart once more when suddenly, Sarah moves to kiss him and Chuck responds instantly as the lovers began to kiss one another in an intense passion greater than anything they had witnessed before as all of their frustration channeled itself into the kiss that they were now sharing with one another. The instant their lips had locked together they had forgiven one another for their outbursts and instead they attacked each others mouth while their hands roamed freely all over one another until having to part their mouths as they began gasping for desperately needed air with their foreheads now touching one another.

"I'm sorry." Chuck practically whispered into Sarah's mouth when he had got his breath back as their lips were just a few small inches apart from one another.

"I'm sorry too baby." Sarah replied, before they began to passionately kiss one another again but this time more soft and tenderly as Sarah began to lift up on Chuck's shirt as the intense kiss that they had just formerly shared had lit a deep fire inside of her as she once more began an attempt to consolidate their relationship status.

"I want you." Sarah had moaned to Chuck at some point during the second kiss and Sarah had now gotten Chuck's shirt off and over his head but her boyfriend was now doing barely anything in response to Sarah's deeper attempts at intimacy causing Sarah to eventually move back away from him completely and to head towards the exit door to Chuck's cabin.

"Sarah, where are you going?" Chuck asked in a concerned whisper.

"Chuck, if we aren't going to make love and I strongly doubt we are because of how unresponsive you're being to my attempts, then I'm going to go and have a cold shower or two or ten in my quarters and then I'm going to go to bed sexually frustrated once more..." Sarah said before pausing as she lowered her head dejectedly in resignation at her revelation, before looking back up at him again. "It's decision time Chuck... You're not a boy any more. You're a man and I love you more than anything in this world but I don't know if I can wait for ever for you to let me back in..." Sarah paused for a final moment to look at him sadly. "Good night Chuck..." and with that, Sarah was gone leaving Chuck alone in deep contemplation…

End of Chapter

Next chapter: I have just two words for you – Daniel Shaw... BOOOOOO! NOT THAT 2x4!

Actually, next chapter is going to end in an almighty cliffhanger that I'm absolutely not going to ruin for you sweethearts, just make sure you tune in!

My inspiration for the final kiss scene in this chapter was Chuck vs the Hard Salami In where Sarah kissed Chuck after becoming mad at him briefly, before proceeding to kiss him. That scene was one of my favorite moments in the series :)

Please review, THANK YOU! PM's also greatly welcome if you want to chat. It may take me a few chapters to get back into the flow that I had. The story has about twenty more chapters left before it's complete.


	26. MAN DOWN, MAN DOWN!

Greetings! Sadly it looks like I have lost my readership. I still want to finish the story though, even if only for myself as it's my favorite story of all that I have but I might work on it as a side project and focus on something new. I'll see how this chapter is received and if there's any significant demand for it after this chapter before making a decision.

Guest: I can't agree with your assessment, sorry. Whilst I do have six projects and I've stated that already, the reality is that I was only ever fully committed to working on just two of those (Love-Struck and Redemption) Love Struck Spies was an extremely ambitious project that was to last easily more than 500,000 words and I probably bit off a bit (lot) more than I could chew and took on other projects in addition to that. High School Sweethearts should never have been started until Love-Struck was completed so that was put completely aside and on the back-burner after I realized my mistake. My mobster story never got started and didn't make it past chapter one, so we can't really count that as being a work in progress as it was also put on the back-burner as I worked on Love-Struck after realizing my mistake. New Beginnings was written together with my dearest friend Esardi who sadly passed away more than five years ago. Redemption was my latest story until my newest one and I was well on course to completing it just a few months after I first published it, but coupled with my depressive thoughts, the story came under constant attack by a very unpleasant person who harassed me that much, it drove me to leaving for two years until now. And finally, Second Chance which has only just started, so we can't count that as a story not being finished, as it's only just begun. Also, back in late 2013, my computer ran into significant problems and I lost more than one million words of notes that I had taken and I was unable to re-obtain what I had lost. So naturally, I was extremely deflated and lost all motivation to rebuild what I had lost as I lost EVERYTHING for Love Struck, High School, New Beginnings, my Mob story and about a dozen future story ideas in addition to those. And I've already explained why I left the site while working on Redemption, so there's my reasoning.

Word Count for this Chapter: 7026

* * *

 **Chapter Twenty Six**

 **MAN DOWN, MAN DOWN!**

 **CIA Headquarters**

 **Director Graham's Office**

 **Langley**

 **United States**

"Langston, about that thing with Agent Walker," Assistant CIA Director Beckman paused to get the attention of her boss.

"Go on Diane." Director Graham instructed his subordinate to continue.

"I've had Special Agent Shaw send a clandestine team to plant evidence inside the safe house of Agent Walker's informant that points and incriminates towards a rival faction. The matter is now buried and written off as we earlier discussed and agreed upon." Assistant Director Beckman said to her boss.

"That's great news Diane!" Director Graham replied happily as he took a moment to revel in the news that his best intelligence gathering agent was now all in the clear. "Will there be anything else?"

"Special Agent Shaw also sent forth a written recommendation advising the promoting of Agent Walker to Special Agent status citing operational successes and has recommended that she be instated as his assistant head of operations in the Middle East. I've faxed over his recommendation to you already."

"So you have." Director Graham replied as he opened his email and began to study the written recommendation. "Bear with me a few moments while I study this."

Several moments later...

"Hm..." The CIA director said as he paused for a brief moment to gather his thoughts "Very well Diane. On reading this report, I concur with Special Agent Shaw's notes. Agent Walker is a suitable candidate for promotion. Please inform Special Agent Shaw that he should make the suitable arrangements with Agent Walker, though I have a strong suspicion that she will not even entertain the thought of leaving her current tasking," The CIA director paused briefly to smirk to himself which went unnoticed by Assistant Director Beckman as she had no inside knowledge of Agent Walker's intimacy with a certain Lieutenant Commander Bartowski also on the task-force "which would be a wasted use of a Special Agent on a small counter-insurgency team, but I'll agree to it regardless of where she chooses to remain posted. That will be all Diane." Director Graham finished and dismissed his subordinate.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x

 **10 October**

 **FOB Midnight**

 **Iraq**

It had been six days since Sarah had revealed to Chuck that she had lied to the CIA director to protect Chuck, Morgan and herself from any repercussions and fallout after everything that had happened inside her now deceased informants safehouse and today, Sarah had received instructions from the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, which is the main base of operations for the CIA in Iraq and the Middle East. Sarah has been ordered to report to the Regional Head of Operations, some ruthless piece of wood called Special Agent Shaw. Sarah had, had run-ins with Special Agent Shaw previously and the truth be told, she loathed him. Every time Sarah had met Shaw he would do nothing but brag and boast about his accomplishments in Clandestine missions and then proceed to try and get her into bed. Sarah was just happy as an intelligence gathering employee that was simply doing her part for her country to help keep it safe and her fellow countrymen as they fought in wars overseas that they didn't belong in. Sarah did not want to be part of Clandestine and Black Ops assignments that would almost certainly involve the witnessing of torture. There is a low level detention facility at most military bases inside of this country, and other countries that coalition nations are involved in but nothing of the sort is carried out at these locations, they're just holding facilities until the prisoners can be transported to other locations such as Black Sites. No information or reason for the summons was given but Sarah can only assume it's one of two things. Firstly, the summons could be related to her deceased informant. Or secondly, it could just be a simple status report on the current task-force that Sarah is part of with Chuck.

Sarah had just arrived outside one of the fitness centres on base where she knew that Chuck was presently located at after being told by one of the frogmen under his command who she had bumped into when she had begun to look for him just a few minutes ago.

Chuck spotted Sarah right away and immediately departed from his conversation that he was having with two of his troop members to walk over to Sarah instead.

"Hey Sarah." Said Chuck as he arrived within touching distance of Sarah.

"Hi." Replied Sarah.

"Are you ok? What's up?" Replied Chuck as he thought something might be wrong because he was not expecting to see Sarah until later on in the evening.

"Can we talk?" Sarah asked slightly remorsefully.

"Um yeah, sure, let's take a walk I'm about done here anyway so." Chuck replied slightly nervously on hearing Sarah's chosen line of conversation and her chosen tone.

"Great." Sarah shot back.

Sarah and Chuck then spent the next few minutes walking towards the helicopter landing pads, which wasn't that far away from Sarah's quarters.

"So, what did you want to talk about?" Chuck asks after the couple arrived at the remote location away from most of the activity on the base.

"I have to go away for a few days Chuck." Sarah replied sadly which caused Chuck's head to drop immediately in sadness and anguish on hearing what she said.

"Where are you going?" Chuck asked in a deflated and concerned tone as he nervously raised his head to make eye contact with his lover once more.

"I've been called to the embassy for something work related Chuck." Sarah replied truthfully.

"Do you know what it's about?" Chuck enquired in response.

"I really have no clue Chuck." Sarah responded sadly, knowing that this topic would cause deep problems for her boyfriend.

"Are you coming back?" Chuck asked vulnerably while also finding it hard to make eye contact with her.

"Of course I am Chuck." Sarah replied immediately and softly.

Chuck didn't respond and his body language became deflated.

Sarah looked around before she spoke to make sure nobody was near them but the area was deserted "Baby, please don't do this to yourself." Sarah paused, as she implored Chuck, before continuing "I know what I've just told you is eating at you, I did do a CIA psychology course you know." Sarah said soft and jokingly to try and lighten up Chuck's now depressed mood.

"I know..." Chuck said as he continued his deflated state of mind.

"Chuck... Trust me. I'm coming back. I will never leave you ever again." Sarah stated powerfully with conviction.

There was a slight pause from Chuck as he stood in silence for a brief moment. "I do." Chuck said dejectedly eventually after a moments pause.

But the pause was too long for Sarah though as an idea had now formed in her mind on how she could convince Chuck to trust her.

"Sarah, where are we going?" Chuck asked as his hand was now being pulled by Sarah's to the direction of one of the living areas on base.

"I'm going to show and prove to you how much I'm going to miss you. I would happily do it right here, right now but you would be no use to me court-martialed if we got caught" Sarah said smiling as she purposely tugged away at her lovers arm...

 **20 minutes later**

 **Sarah's Quarters**

 **FOB Midnight**

"So, do you believe me now?" Sarah asked as she smirked as she lay on her bed together facing her world as they burned a gaze into the eyes of one another.

"Wow Sarah, that was intense." Replied Chuck as he attempted to get his breath back from a heated make out session he had just had with his girlfriend that had started the very second the door to Sarah's quarters closed behind them and eventually led to her bed.

"Chuck, you have absolutely no idea how on fire I am right now and that was just first base! I'm ready for fourth base right now. I wish I could show you just how much I'm actually going to miss you and I will do exactly that if I get just one inclination it's what you want too." Sarah stated truthfully as the reconciling lovers looked affectionately into each others eyes not breaking the contact once.

"Sarah..." Chuck paused for a moment to collect his thoughts, before eventually continuing once more "It's not that I don't want you. Trust me I do want you right now, more than anything." Chuck paused briefly and Sarah's eyes almost flew out their sockets as she gaped at her lover and was about to jump on top of him and pin him down where he lay on thinking that this was her opening as this was the first time he had told her he wanted her intimately in more than six years but Chuck sensed the look she was now giving him and quickly shot down the flames by continuing "I just don't want to express feelings of love and intimacy in the middle of a war, it just feels wrong and cheap." Chuck paused again as they continue to burn a gaze at one another "Sarah, there's death and destruction all around us and it stinks. I think it would be tainted passion and our relationship is worth far more than that!" Chuck stated sincerely from the deepest corner of his heart.

Sarah nodded her head in acceptance, it was a reasonable enough argument from her lover. "I get that Chuck, I do. I personally do not agree because the fact is that I want you so I don't care where we are, but it's not me going out on the missions and seeing what you see so like I said I get it. It's not easy for you to open up in this hell hole." Sarah said as she touched his face affectionately with her hand.

"I don't want to lose you again Sarah, it would kill me." Chuck admitted truthfully as they continued to lay on Sarah's bed, face to face with one another.

"Chuck, I made the biggest mistake of my life leaving you and I know it's inexcusable what I did but I did it because I killed somebody Chuck and NOT because I didn't love you." Sarah paused to get her breath back, before continuing "I've never stopped loving you Chuck. I was damaged goods and I didn't want you to become tainted and corrupted like me also. I couldn't lie to you for one second longer and I spent the following six years hating everything about myself. I was in a bad place Chuck. I stopped living the day I broke your heart and I didn't start living until I found you again. I'm so sorry." Sarah said over multiple breaths as she got emotional about the subject once more for what felt like the hundredth time.

"Sarah, you've apologized to me about a hundred times since we got back together. It's all in the past now. We've started fresh." Chuck said sincerely as he moved a hand to touch her face lovingly.

Sarah shook her head in disagreement, "Chuck, please don't make it okay. What I did to you..." Sarah paused for a moment as she had to fight back tears before continuing "I didn't deserve a second chance with you but you gave me one and I will spend the rest of our lives making it up to you. I promise you I will never leave you ever again. I would die first before I hurt you twice." Sarah stated powerfully with conviction.

"I believe you." Chuck stated truthfully as the reconciling lovers looked at one another for a long moment of adoration before Chuck broke the silence again "How long are you going for?" Chuck asked.

"It's only a few days baby, and I will come right back to you. Nothing will keep me from coming back to you, ok?" Sarah said as she moved her hand to reassuringly stroke his hair.

"Ok." Chuck admitted after now becoming much more convinced by Sarah that she would come back.

"Now can we go back to what we were doing? I'd like to makeout with my boyfriend a little while longer before I have to leave." Sarah said with a grin

"I'm sure we can manage that." Chuck said as he grinned back, before Sarah pulled him by his shirt towards her to kiss him once more…

x-x-x-x-x-x-x

 **11 October**

 **Green Zone**

 **U.S Embassy**

 **Baghdad**

Sarah had been inside the embassy in Baghdad for one evening now and was presently waiting in one of the corridors of the Embassy as she waited for her scheduled appointment to begin. The quicker Sarah could find out what this was about, the quicker she could go right back to the man she loved and needed to be around, for without him she was nothing but a shallow and empty existence of her self. Sarah had arrived at the Embassy last night after being escorted in a protected convoy that had been arranged for her as is customary when travelling in this part of the world.

"Agent Walker?" A sudden voice disturbed Sarah as she looked up and at the intruder of the silence which was a junior female assistant that had just called her name "Special Agent Shaw will see you now." The junior assistant said to Sarah on meeting eye contact with her.

Sarah then stood up and followed the junior assistant roughly around her own age along the corridor.

They arrived at and entered the office of Special Agent Shaw a few minutes later

"Thank you Sophie, that will be all." Shaw replied to his young junior assistant as she then departed upon receiving acknowledgement from her boss.

"Take a seat." Shaw said to Sarah once they were alone inside his office.

"Hello again Sarah. It's been a few months." Shaw said to Sarah after she had sat down facing him on the other side of his desk.

"Shaw." Sarah says as she acknowledges Special Agent Shaw.

"Please, it's Daniel." Shaw says flirtatiously in response.

However, Sarah chose not acknowledge it. "What's this about Shaw? Why was I called away from my mission?" Sarah asked without showing any emotion because 1) She didn't want to give anything away 2) She pretty much loathed the person in-front of her.

"You've been an Agent for six years now Sarah?"

Sarah studied him to find out the context of his words, "Correct." Sarah replied apprehensively.

"What are you ambitions Sarah?" Shaw said as he tried to engage in eye contact with Sarah, which Sarah tried to avoid as much as possible as she felt uncomfortable that he was calling her by her name and not by her agent status as they've never had any kind of personal relationship ever.

"I've not given it much thought." Sarah admitted.

"How does Special Agent Walker sound? Shaw replied with a smile.

"You're offering me a promotion?" Sarah asked bemused as this was not one of the two options that she'd considered when she contemplated what she'd been requested for.

"If you want it?" Shaw replied.

"I do." Sarah replied instantly without needing to think about it.

"Ambitious, I like it." Shaw said confidently.

'Is he flirting with me?' Sarah asked herself distastefully as she felt offended because she was in a committed relationship and intended to be in it for the rest of her life and everything that came with that such as marriage and children.

"You could have the pick of your assignments. It has many perks too, I can assure you of that." Shaw said confidently and flirtatiously.

"I'm happy on the task force that I'm already on." Sarah stated with conviction. NOTHING or NOBODY was going to take her away from Chuck.

"Sarah, that's small time. The agency could put you to much bigger use. I need an assistant. How does assistant head of operations in the Middle East sound?" Shaw replied in that same distasteful tone of voice to Sarah that he'd previously used.

"I don't do Black Ops, Shaw." Sarah stated in response before continuing further to reinforce her absolute refusal to partner with this piece of wood and leave her soul-mate. "I have a great working relationship on the task-force that I'm already on and the results that it's produced thus far have been great. We have captured several high value targets."

"I know, I have the reports right here." Replied Shaw as he pointed at the case folders that Sarah had been part of since her counter-insurgency taskforce with Chuck's team and the British team first began. "And that is why I personally recommended you for promotion, which has now been confirmed, in writing." Shaw said while making to point out in his words that he personally recommended her for promotion as he passed over written confirmation to Sarah.

Sarah's face lit up with a smile on receiving the letter and studying the letter on getting recognition for her hard work. Sarah had given her life and had sacrificed her relationship that she had regretted since the very first second she did it, no promotion was worth what that did to Sarah and more importantly Chuck's state of mind but they were together again now, and she was slowly repairing all of the damage that she herself had done to both of them and now this promotion was just the icing on the beautiful cake that is her life right now. Sarah was so happy right now sat in this chair, she wished that Chuck was here so she could just melt into him and celebrate, but sadly he was not...

Special Agent Shaw had noticed the happy look that had overtaken Sarah, and he decided to move in for the kill on thinking that she was happy with him, for recommending her for promotion. "Congratulations Special Agent Walker."

"Thank you" Replied Sarah cheerfully as her thoughts continued to think about her soul-mate.

"So, about working together?" Shaw inquired with a grin on his face thinking she would no longer resist his attempts now that he'd gotten her promoted.

"I'm sorry, but I'm really not interested." Sarah replied as she made eye contact with him briefly, before averting her eyes once more as she felt no connection to him whatsoever. Daniel Shaw was not appealing to Sarah, nor was any other man on the planet, except one Charles Irving Bartowski that she intends to marry one day...

Shaw was undeterred however, and came again as he had, had many women resist him over the years, but he always got his girl eventually. "I insist that we talk it over dinner Sarah." Shaw paused for a moment and on sensing that Sarah was about to say no, he chimed in with some final words "As a favour, for the one that I've just done you."

'God… This guy just won't give up will he. I guess I'll have to embarrass him in the middle of dinner just to get him to screw off.' Sarah thought to herself with disdain for Shaw's flirtatious attempts.

"Fine, but I am stating right now Shaw that this will be a working lunch only so don't even think about getting any ideas as I am happily in a relationship and then I need to get back to my posting afterward." Sarah replied as her thoughts happily drifted to her baby once more.

'I'll convince her.' Shaw said confidently to himself with a grin on Sarah's acceptance of a working lunch, although he would very much treat it as a date. 'Nobody can resist Daniel Shaw!'

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

 **One hour later**

Sarah was now back inside her room in the embassy and was just finishing composing an email to Chuck's personal email address. Sarah couldn't resist sending a picture of herself in a seductive pose while sitting on an office chair with a smirk on her face as she did so. Sarah always used to send him pictures like this when they were together back home in California and Sarah hopes that she would get the same reaction from him that she'd used to get from him all those years ago...

 _Email communication between Stanfordgirl1980 and ChuckBartowski :_

 _Hi baby. I know it's only been a day but I miss you so much already. Just a few more days until I'm back in your arms. I'm just here for a few routine briefings and catching up on paperwork. Oh! and I got a promotion. To say that it was unexpected would be an understatement of the HIGHEST order! Lol! So did I ever tell you how much I love you? I'll tell you anyway: I LOVE YOU BABY! xxxxxxxxx - I would give you some hugs in there but you know what I like more :P_

 _*picture attached* ps, I hope this picture gives you the same reaction that it used to ;) if it doesn't then we can't continue with our relationship baby..._

 _Message ends._

 _x-x-x-x-x-x-x_

 **Thirty minutes later**

Sarah was disturbed from some CIA paperwork that she was filling out by an alert to an email and she felt her heart strings flutter as she spotted who it was from before proceeding to open the email of her lover.

 _Email communication between ChuckBartowski and Stanfordgirl1980 :_

 _It_ _gave me one million times more of a reaction! I can't put into words how beautiful you are Sarah, so I'll just have to tell you when I next see you ;)_

 _I guess I'm doing the hugs then since you missed them out! ooooooooo - lol! AND I LOVE YOU TOO!_

 _Message ends._

Sarah immediately began giggling to herself feeling immense joy and satisfaction as she reveled in the words of the man that she knew she had to have the very first instant she shared eye contact with her curly haired, happy, passionate loving nerd on their Stanford University tour all those years ago, before replying a final time.

 _Email communication between Stanfordgirl1980 and ChuckBartowski:_

 _You're such a doofus baby, and that is ONE of the reasons that I love you. I would tell you the other thousand, but I would be here until 2am! I'm extremely disappointed that I didn't get any kisses from you, especially after the one that I gave you before I left, or have you forgotten so soon? no matter, the instant I see you I'll paint you in lipstick! Your team will probably think it was Morgan! LOL! xxxxxxx_

 _Message ends._

 _x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-_

 **Later that evening**

Sarah had now arrived for a working dinner with Special Agent Shaw. This was to be a purely professional encounter only. Sarah would never even dream of meeting another man in any kind of romantic fashion even if she wasn't with Chuck as she'd never dated another man since she was last with him. Chuck is the only man for Sarah Lisa Walker and only ever will be. The only reason Sarah agreed to this stupid thing tonight with Shaw was to get him to shut up and allow her to leave so she could go and email the love of her life as she missed and yearned for him. She's only been without him for a day and she misses him more than anything already.

"Sarah, you look great." Shaw said flirtatiously on Sarah's arrival.

Sarah scoffed in response to Shaw's compliment. Sarah had not bothered to dress up or make herself look appealing as she would do to Chuck in where she'd spend upwards of two to three hours just to make herself look perfect before going anywhere formal with him as she craved and needed his praise and attention. Sarah needed to hear those words of compliment from Chuck that he gave her as it would effect her deep inside her core and she longed to always be loved by him but tonight, Sarah had made absolutely minimal effort and she was dressed in a business suit and was treating this experience as just another on the clock working encounter.

"Can we get this over with Shaw and talk about whatever you wanted to talk about?" Sarah asked as she had actually forgotten why she was here, it was irrelevant.

"Sarah please, it's Daniel."

"Ok fine," Sarah replied as she rolled her eyes, "what did you want to talk about, Daniel?" Sarah said as she said his name sarcastically.

"Later." Replied Shaw confidently as he got out menus to order.

 **One hour later**

Sarah had now uncomfortably finished dinner, and she'd excused herself to bathroom and was planning how she could get away from this guy. Sarah was contemplating running out straight away without saying anything as this guy was vulgar and was evidently treating the occasion like a date and it was NOT anything of the sort. This was purely a working courtesy, NOTHING more nor would it ever be as Sarah Lisa Walker belongs to one man and only one man.

Sighing to gather her thoughts, Sarah headed back out with a plan now formed on how she could leave and retire back to her room to sleep out the night alone while longing for a man that wouldn't be with her tonight.

Arriving back at the table she'd eaten at, Sarah spoke "Look, its time for me to leave. You're getting the wrong impression of why I'm here. I came here as a curtsy for the promotion recommendation, and unless you tell me why you asked me here, I'm leaving." Sarah stated as she threatened to leave on the spot.

"Sarah, I think we would work well together."

"I don't agree. Black ops isn't my thing, I loathe it, actually." Sarah stated distastefully.

"It's a means to an end Sarah. It guarantees results and gives you great connections to some very powerful people, its extremely good for your career." Shaw replied confidently.

"But I'm not interested. I have a boyfriend that I work with, and I'm happy. I love him as a matter of fact." Sarah stated happily as her heart filled up immense adoration.

'Probably some small time analyst' Shaw thinks to himself.

"He'd get over it. Sarah, he's probably small time. Now I don't mean to boast but I'm head of operations and soon I may even get a bigger role in D.C and as my assistant naturally you would follow me in any career jump I get, now can he offer you that also?" Shaw said confidently

Sarah had heard enough from this loser. Leave Chuck? For some arrogant piece of wood so full of himself? So full of shit more like. Chuck was a billion times more of a man than this piece of wood, and even a billion sounded a small number in comparison to this guy.

Sarah began to gather her things, before speaking "Ok, this was a bad idea. I don't know how many times I need to tell you. I've told you before that I'm just not interested. I'm not attracted to you Daniel." Sarah said as she prepared to walk away to retire to her room.

"But over time maybe you could be." Shaw responded confidently.

'Does this guy know how desperate he's sounding?' Sarah thought to herself.

"Enough!" Sarah snapped pretty loudly as she slammed a hand on the table causing other guests of the restaurant situated at the Embassy to look in her direction "I love my boyfriend more than anything in this world Shaw and I'm hoping one day he'll marry me and we'll have about four or maybe five kids together! I am committed to him and he is to me!" Sarah yelled before pausing to get her breath back momentarily, before continuing her onslaught once more "I'm sorry that you can't understand that Shaw. But I wish you well and hope that you can find a willing lapdog, but I will NEVER be your lapdog! I belong to one man! Now goodnight!" Sarah stated as she began to storm far away from that unattractive piece of wood but not before being told by a waitress "Good on you girl." as she walked past her.

 _x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-_

Arriving back at her hotel room, Sarah gets out her laptop and begins to compose an email to the love of her life once more. She would tell him all about what Shaw had done today of course, but not until she was with him again in person as a distracted soldier is a dead soldier. Instead, she composed an email that stated her undying love for him once more...

 _x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x_

 **13 October**

 **FOB Midnight**

Lieutenant Commander Bartowski was presently in one of the R&R recreational facilities on base with his troop who were watching a movie, Chuck wasn't really interested in it though as he was emailing back and forth with Sarah on a personal laptop. All of the troop had their pagers with them as they were on-duty and would respond as soon as they got any call to do so.

Chuck was disturbed from his thoughts about his girlfriend on receiving the latest email from the very same woman.

 _Email communication between Stanfordgirl1980 and_ _ChuckBartowski:_

 _you look one hundred times better in picture than in person baby ;)_

 _Just kidding! Or am I? ;) and as you've sent me a snap of yourself, figured I'd return the compliment!_

 _*picture attached*_

 _ps, enjoy the movie baby. I can't wait to be back there with you again, I LOVE YOU so much! xxxxxxxxx_

 _Message ends._

"Ouch, that hurt my feelings!" Chuck exclaimed jokingly after reading the email.

"What did sir?" Morgan asked his CO as he turned in his seat from the movie to look at his brother.

"Sarah just told me I look one hundred times better in picture than in person." Chuck said as he held his hand on his heart.

The room immediately burst into laughter as the small group of frogmen were sat compactly together to watch tonight's movie and had heard what their CO had said.

"You should dump her sir and get with the XO, seeing as you're always with him." Chief Rodriguez jokes as he turns around to face his CO and XO and was receiving death glares from the latter.

"Hey, I'm not having that!" Morgan says to the Chief as he stands up and grabs hold of his enlisted. "Watch your back when you're next on a bird with me Chief, I might just throw you off." Morgan says as he imitates and pretends to launch the frogman before patting him on the shoulder jokingly.

"She's right sir, you're one ugly mofo!" Chief Miller jokes as he also turns his head around to face his CO causing the group of frogmen to burst into laughter.

"You take that back or you're getting running duties all week!" Chuck said as he stood up and pointed his finger at the culprit with a stern look on his face.

"Sir, I'm sorry sir. You're fucking beautiful. I'd leave my wife for you if you asked me, sir." Chief Miller joked furthering the laughter of the SEAL's which had now drowned out the noise of the movie as laughter replaced it instead.

"That's better!" Chuck said as he sat back down again into his chair.

"Sir, about the running, sir?" Chief Miller inquired as he continued to look behind himself to at his CO.

"We'll discuss it later over dinner. My place." Chuck replied with a huge smirk on his face causing the laughter in the room to peak at an all time high.

"Commanders got a date!" Chuck's senior enlisted Master Chief Garcia exclaimed as the laughter continues for a few moments before the camaraderie begins to die down and everyone settles back in to watching the movie as Chuck goes back to his laptop to send his response to his girlfriend...

 **15 October**

 **FOB Midnight**

It had been five days since Sarah had left, but she was now back on the luxurious Special Forces base that her task-force was based at.

Sarah had completed all of her necessary paperwork and took part in a few briefings while at the embassy. Thankfully, she didn't hear from Special Agent Shaw again, she must have hurt his feelings.

Sarah had dropped her stuff off at her quarters, and then headed out in search of Chuck who she's missed more than she can even begin to explain after five days of being without him she needed to see his smile, his face, his hair, his body, his arms. She needed to feel his hugs, his kisses and so much more! Sarah has fallen deeply in love with Chuck again, but actually the truth is that she had never stopped loving him. The love that Sarah is feeling right now for Chuck is the exact same as how she felt when she first came into contact with him again more than two months ago.

 **20 minutes later**

Sarah had now arrived inside one of the recreational rooms as it was evening and Chuck's team or Cole's team would almost always be inside this room at night as night time was always the operating time for Chuck's troop as each troop of Gold Squadron covered different shifts but sadly Chuck was not here.

Sarah then began to wander around the base in search of her soul-mate as her heart begins to skip a beat with anxious thoughts as she begins to consider the possibility that Chuck is out on an operation.

Sarah arrived inside one of several Operations Rooms on base a few minutes later and the worry and dread in Sarah's mind began to get deeper and deeper as she still hadn't found him and was now pretty convinced that he was out on mission.

Sarah had now bumped into a Navy Intelligence official inside the Situation Room who acknowledged her presence "Good evening Agent Walker," the female intelligence official said on coming in contact with Sarah.

"Actually, it's Special Agent now, but everyone calls me Sarah here anyway I insist." Sarah says with a smile while still feeling proud of her new job title.

"Oh, I'm sorry ma'am, congratulations." The female intelligence officially says sincerely.

"Thank you." Said Sarah, as she smiled also in response.

"Is Chu..." Sarah stopped herself short on realizing her mistake. "Is Commander Bartowski around?"

"He's out on operation ma'am. We're coordinating the operation from here."

"Thank you." Sarah said as she thanked the Navy intel official.

"You're welcome ma'am. Will there be anything else?"

"No, thanks again." Said Sarah

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

 **Five minutes later**

Sarah was now locked on and studying the monitors and screens inside the Situation Room intently as she knew that her soul-mate was somewhere on this live footage. It was a pretty big operation from what Sarah could see as she counted roughly twenty SF personnel that had just fast-roped to the ground in some suburb of Fallujah and all of the soldiers looked identical so she had a hard time determining which was which but as she watched she continued to feel sick and anxious knowing somebody she loved so much was in harm's way.

 **Five minutes later**

Sarah had now been in the Situation Room for a short while when suddenly, Sarah heard a soldier screaming on the communications channel inside the Situation Room "MAN DOWN, MAN DOWN!"

Sarah's heart instantly skipped a beat in utter dread as her heart began to race about one thousand times more rapidly in dread and anxiousness as to who that casualty was. Even if it wasn't Chuck, Sarah had built up a relationship with many of his friends and she would be extremely saddened if any of them got hurt.

"Sit rep!" The Commander of this evening's mission inside the operations room urgently demanded over the communications channel as the situation room began to suddenly get extremely hectic and chaotic as everybody tried to figure out what was going on.

There was an agonizingly long wait for a response to what the Commander in charge of the operation had demanded as Sarah was now studying the monitors INTENSELY as she could only stand helpless and watch what was happening and after an ever so short delay from receiving the audio transmission, Sarah could now see the firefight playing out in real time and she seen the soldier go down. Sarah couldn't make out who had just been wounded but she saw him being pulled out and away from the line of fire by a second assaulter, with a third assaulter engaging the location that the burst of rapid gunfire had just came from.

Sarah continued to watch the raid that was being conducted and her eyes were glued to the screen as she watched Chuck's team engaging in a firefight when suddenly, team communication chatter appeared again "COMMANDER BARTOWSKI HAS BEEN HIT! 7.62 EXIT WOUND TO THE ABDOMEN! MASSIVE BLOOD LOSS! WE NEED A FUCKING MEDIVAC NOW!" Corpsman Chief Miller screamed over the communication channel as he worked to stop the massive blood loss from his Commanding Officer...

"Affirmative. Standby." The operational commander said in response and was by far the calmest person of the whole operation as panic erupted inside the Situation Room and real-time on the ground in Fallujah...

Sarah suddenly felt the urge to be sick on hearing that communique and couldn't hold it in as she began to violently vomit in the spot that she was stood as her eyes began to fill up with tears as she stood completely powerless and helplessly as she watched a monitor that now contained images of her only reason to live screaming in agony on the floor of an apartment complex as a soldier stood over and attended him with the blood of her soulmate absolutely everywhere...

 **End of Chapter.**

*insert cliffhanger music here*

Poor Chuck! Poor Sarah! :( Find out more, next chapter!

Please review and let me know your thoughts. THANK YOU!


	27. Redemption: Part One

Okay, so it looks like there still is demand for this story! Thank you so much to everybody that reviewed and interacted with me. I see a lot of new faces and I hope that you will continue to review and interact with me and enjoy the story :) Fun fact: I was recently diagnosed with Asperger's which explains why I've always craved story reviews so much in the stories I have done here. Online interaction is extremely important for me, as I have social difficulties in person and never realized why until that diagnosis which has changed my life as I now know that there's nothing wrong with me and I can't help that I'm just wired differently :)

So everybody who has reviewed my last two chapters since I came back and has PM'd me with lovely kind inspiration, THANK YOU!

Word count for this chapter: 5771

* * *

 _Previously: Sarah continued to watch the raid that was being conducted and her eyes were glued to the screen as she watched Chuck's team engaging in a firefight when suddenly, team communication chatter appeared again "COMMANDER BARTOWSKI HAS BEEN HIT! 7.62 EXIT WOUND TO THE ABDOMEN! MASSIVE BLOOD LOSS! WE NEED A FUCKING MEDIVAC NOW!" Corpsman Chief Miller screamed over the communication channel as he worked to stop the massive blood loss from his Commanding Officer..._

 _"Affirmative. Standby." The operational commander said in response and was by far the calmest person of the whole operation as panic erupted inside the Situation Room and real-time on the ground in Fallujah..._

 _Sarah suddenly felt the urge to be sick on hearing that communique and couldn't hold it in as she began to violently vomit in the spot that she was stood as her eyes began to fill up with tears as she stood completely powerless and helplessly as she watched a monitor that now contained images of her only reason to live screaming in agony on the floor of an apartment complex as a soldier stood over and attended him with the blood of her soulmate absolutely everywhere..._

* * *

 **Chapter Twenty Seven**

 **Redemption: Part One**

 **15 October**

 **Lieutenant Commander Bartowski's Quarters**

 **FOB Midnight**

 **Iraq**

Chuck woke up inside his quarters with an almighty smile on his face today. Sarah had been gone for five days for work but she had emailed Chuck the previous night to tell him that she would be coming back today among many other things and tonight could not come quick enough for Chuck for Sarah to be back with him. The past ten weeks in the life of Lieutenant Commander Bartowski have been one gigantic emotional roller-coaster of events that included many happy moments between himself and Sarah as the reconciling lovers rekindled but there have also been significant tests and challenges that they faced and came through together.

Right now for Chuck, his relationship with Sarah was as strong as it has ever been in the ten weeks that they had been around one another again. It wasn't at the levels of when they were at Stanford, or when they lived together as a soppy loved up couple in California. But Chuck was now ready to commit and open himself up to Sarah once more in the hope that they could begin to reach those levels of happiness again. Being without Sarah the last couple of days has made Chuck realize just how much he loves and misses her and needs to be with her. At some point in the past five days, the last wall that Chuck had built up between himself and Sarah had came crumbling down and in Chuck's mind, there was now nothing left that stood between the lovers. Chuck was ready to let her back in and expose himself to her in the most intimate of ways that two soulmates possibly could...

Chuck had now sat up and got out of bed with a spring in his step as he fetched his laptop and powered it up while still sporting an enormous grin of satisfaction and happiness. He proceeded to spend the next few minutes thinking about what he would say in the email to Sarah before composing it and finally hitting send…

 _Email Communication between ChuckBartowski and Stanfordgirl1980:_

 _Good morning baby. I can't even begin to tell you how much I've missed not being able to be with you the past five days so I'll just show you, tonight. I'm ready. ;)_

 _I love you Sarah._

 _Message ends._

On hitting send, Chuck stood up from where he had sat on his bed to compose the email to his girlfriend and he began to walk into his second room to freshen up with an almighty grin still on his face as he began to happily whistle away to himself.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Chuck returned from his wash room inside his quarters twenty minutes later all freshened up and dressed in his fitness wear as he moved to pick up his laptop once more from where he'd left it earlier and he then proceeded to open up his email messaging service to see if his girlfriend had responded to him yet.

She had.

 _Email Communication between Stanfordgirl1980 and Chuckbartowski:_

 _BABY, YOU HAD BETTER NOT BE PLAYING WITH ME RIGHT NOW OR I SWEAR TO GOD YOU WILL REGRET IT NAVY SEAL OR NOT!_

 _Message ends._

Chuck's face erupted with an almighty grin on reading his girlfriends message, before he began to compose his own response.

 _Email Communication between ChuckBartowski and Stanfordgirl1980:_

 _I'm not. I need you Sarah._

 _Message ends._

On finishing typing out his response Chuck stood up from where he was sitting previously and was about to exit his quarters to begin his run when he heard an email notification less than a minute after he had sent his own.

 _Email Communication between Stanfordgirl1980 and ChuckBartowski:_

 _I'm going to eat you alive._

 _Message ends._

Chuck's eyes nearly flew out of their sockets on reading Sarah's response to him telling her he was ready to consolidate their relationship. "What have I signed myself up for?" Chuck laughed to himself while making an awkward facial expression of anxiousness before he began to exit his quarters in the happiest mood he had been in for nearly seven years as he began his morning jog around his base of operations…

 **Forty minutes later**

Chuck was now coming to the end of his morning run around his base and had also been joined by his best friend, XO and running mate Lieutenant Grimes as they usually engaged in fitness of a morning to talk over team issues etc. together and sometimes their Senior Enlisted Master Chief Garcia would join them but today it was just Chuck and Morgan together. Chuck paused from the run for a moment to take a swig of water and his best friend stopped with him as they engaged in yet more conversation.

"I've never seen you this cheerful buddy! I know you like your fitness but you've never liked it this much!" Morgan joked laughingly as he personally felt half dead as he usually did at this hour of the morning.

"Sarah is coming back today." Chuck stated happily as he put his arm on his best friends shoulder while being unable to get her out of his mind.

"Things going well?" Morgan asked sincerely as he reciprocated the arm action and put his own arm on his best friends shoulder.

"Better than they have ever been since we reunited." Chuck stated truthfully with a huge smile on his face as he felt extremely content with how his life was right now.

"That's good man. I'm so happy for you. You deserve this Chuck, and Sarah does too." Morgan stated passionate and caringly as both Chuck and Sarah meant so much to him and he wanted the both of them to be happy together after seven difficult years for both of them.

"Yes, we do." Chuck happily agrees with his best friend's statement.

"You've really missed her man, haven't you?" Morgan asked his best friend and brother-in-arms sincerely.

"More than you'll ever know Morgan. I love her." Chuck declares happily while still sporting a huge grin that hadn't left him since he woke up this morning nor would it any time soon.

"Sarah is a lucky woman Chuck." Morgan states truthfully in response knowing that any woman would be lucky to have a man as caring and as loving as his best friend was.

"We are both lucky Morgan. I'm nothing without her." Chuck states truthfully as the two best friends, comrades and brothers in arms continue on with the final part of their run together.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

 **Later that Morning**

Chuck was now exiting the mess hall on base with a coffee in his hand still happily whistling away while in the happiest of moods he's been in for nearly seven years when two U.S Army Rangers jogging suddenly came flying into him causing Chuck to spill his coffee all over himself.

"Shit! We're sorry sir!" The two Rangers that had just barged into an officer apologized immediately as they began to panic and regret their recklessness.

"Don't worry about it!" Chuck exclaimed happily as he wiped off coffee from his uniform which caused the two Rangers to quirk their eyebrows surprised they'd not got a rollicking from an officer.

"It's a lovely day, isn't it? This sunshine is divine!" Chuck states happily as he looks up at the clouds.

"Yes sir. Sorry again!" The two Rangers say apologetically and confusingly as they began to walk away extremely pleased with themselves and shocked that they'd gotten away with not being reprimanded for their recklessness…

x-x-x-x-x-x-x

 **Later that afternoon**

 **FOB Midnight**

 **Operation's Room Alpha**

 **16:00 hours**

Lieutenant Commander Bartowski was presently stood next to Lieutenant Grimes his XO, Captain Cole Barker and his 2IC Lieutenant Wallace, Major Jonas Eastwood SOAR ( special operations aviation regiment) and his 2IC Captain Edwards as himself, the Captain and the Major briefed their men that were gathered and seated on an upcoming Joint Operation raid this evening taking place in the city of Fallujah. Fallujah was the birth of the Iraqi insurgency and it was jam packed full of militants all wanting to take a shot at the Coalition occupiers and as such, it was an extremely hostile working environment for Coalition forces when deployed there.

"Ok guys, we have a green light on tonight's tasking, which is two-fold." Chuck paused until all eyes were on him which they now were. "Firstly, our primary objective is to insert via fast-rope to capture or kill Hasaan Kaddouri who as you all well know is twenty on the capture/kill list. We also believe that his lieutenant will be in attendance when we pay them a visit this evening. I'll hand you over to the Captain for more information on that." Chuck finishes as he lets his good friend Captain Cole Barker speak while still feeling in an elated and cheerful but now focused on the task ahead mood.

"MI6 have had eyes on this location for more than a week now. They believe it to be a bomb-making factory and couldn't believe their eyes when Hasaan shown his face early this morning. We believe that this evening may be our best and only chance to get the bastard if he hasn't left by then." Cole finished and nodded his head at Chuck so he could continue with the briefing.

"Secondary objective as the Captain stated is to neutralize that bomb factory. We believe they've tunnelled so there may be a cave system inside the complex. We're not sure where it leads." Chuck paused to let information sink in before continuing with the briefing, "This will NOT be a soft target. We'll be going in hard." Chuck pauses again to allow his Joint task-force to sink in more information before continuing again "Four Teams. Team Alpha: You will fast rope and insert here, then proceeding to breach the ground floor of complex. Secure any line of escape." Chuck paused again briefly to allow information to digest while also pointing in detail at one of the maps that were out inside the op room to reinforce his points before continuing once more, "Team Bravo: You will fast rope onto the roof of the target building here and secure and descend."" Chuck paused again briefly while also pointing at the map as the Navy SEAL frogmen, Night Stalker pilots and SAS troopers sunk in the information before continuing, "Team's Charlie and Delta will fast rope and set up a defensive perimeter on the north-west and south-eastern quadrants of the AO." Chuck paused a final time while also pointing the locations of their tasking on the maps that were out on display, before finishing, "Questions?"

"Rules of Engagement, sir?" Chief Rodriguez asked his CO as the whole room listened in intently for further crucial information.

"We're expecting heavy contact so I'm pleased to inform you that command have given weapons green on anyone carrying a weapon within the immediate area of operation." The young Lieutenant Commander responded.

"That's nice of them!" An American SEAL happily stated on hearing that they didn't need to be shot at first before returning fire.

"Aye." A Scottish SAS trooper said in agreement with his American counterpart as the group of thirty all sat and continued to be briefed by their officers.

"Estimated number of enemy combatants?" First Class Brown asked his CO.

"Captain?" Chuck invites Cole to answer that question.

"Six believes that there are a dozen plus insurgents inside primary location."

"And secondary locations?" Master Chief Garcia asked the Captain.

"Unknown." Captain Barker responded.

"Extraction, sir?" An SAS trooper asked Chuck.

"Major?" Chuck says to the Night Stalker Major in command of the detachment of SOAR seconded to the task force as he invites him to answer that question.

"We'll keep our four Black-Hawk's hovering over the target area waiting for the call. We'll also have two dazzling AH-64 gunships on overwatch in support as we know how much of a party you guys seem to create wherever you go and would prefer NOT to have our hawk's shot at by small-arms fire!" Major Eastwood jokes causing a chuckle from every single British and American military person inside the Operations Room.

"That's going to wake the neighbours." Morgan jokes which earns another chuckle from the gathering of highly elite soldiers.

"And Emergency Evac, sir?" Corpsman Chief Miller asked the experienced flight Major.

"North-Western perimeter looks secure enough." The expert flight navigator stated on studying the mapping of the area causing all of the operators in the room to nod their head in agreement as they also studied the several maps laid out in the op room.

"Callsign, sir?" Third Class Perez Chuck's troops radio operator asked.

"Mercury." Chuck responded.

"Anything else?" Chuck asks as he glances around the huge gathering of elite special operations personnel prepared to take any more questions but gets no reply.

"Right then. I'll be meeting with respective team leaders and 2IC's inside op room at 18:00 hours. The rest of you, briefing with your respective team leaders at 19:00 hours. Op commence: 22:45 hours. Now I'm off to shower and shave! Dismiss." Chuck said as he finished the briefing with a joke earning a chuckle from the highly elite gathering of military personnel.

"Off to somewhere fancy, sir?!" Somebody shouted back in response causing the whole Operations Room to burst into roaring laughter.

"Never you mind!" Chuck shouted back laughingly above the noise as the six officers then began to disappear from the room leaving the gathering of pilots, frogmen and troopers to discuss and digest the op with one another...

"Why is the CO so happy today?" Chief Miller asked one of his best friends Dan as they sat next to each other inside the operations room.

"Because Sarah must be coming back today!" Chief Rodriguez laughed back to one of his best-mates.

"fuckin' ay!" Chief Miller laughed as he now understood why his CO was looking like a young child on Christmas Day...

x-x-x-x-x-x-x

 **FOB Midnight**

 **19:00 hours**

Lieutenant Commander Bartowski was now going through a mission briefing covering the objectives of Team Alpha which would be fast-roping onto the ground and storming the ground floor of the apartment complex of tonight's raid which he would be heading up. Captain Cole Barker would be 2IC of Alpha Team and the rest of the team consisted of Chief Miller, Chief Rodriguez, Third Class Perez and three British SAS troopers.

Team Bravo meanwhile would be an eight man team that would be fast-roping onto the target building and securing the roof before descending to link up with Alpha. Lieutenant Wallace would be heading up Bravo Team.

While Team's Charlie and Delta each consisting of six special forces operators would hold a defensive perimeter on the north-west and south-east corners of the area of operations which would allow the small number of operators to crowd control all four directions without spreading manpower too thinly. Lieutenant Grimes and Master Chief Garcia would be leading Charlie and Delta respectively.

"Once we're on the ground we'll need to assault rapidly. Can't let the fuckers enter that tunnel system if intel is correct." Chuck said to his small team which caused Cole to shake his head in complete agreement of Chuck's tactics as the six other operators also nodded their heads in agreement as Chuck continued on with his briefing...

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

 **FOB Midnight**

 **22:30 hours**

Tonight's joint operation to capture or kill number twenty on the capture or kill list and to destroy the bomb making factory was about to begin and the four assault teams were going through final checks inside the operation's room before embarking in their transports. All of the seasoned operators were psyching themselves up for a large scale operation that they were about to embark upon together as many "Good luck lads." Remarks were exchanged between one another as handshakes a-plenty were also exchanged between comrades and friends.

 **FOB Midnight**

 **22:40 hours**

The four assault teams had now formed and were just about to finish their four mini huddles at the helicopter landing pads before departing for the four awaiting birds.

"Right guys, I want a nice clean and precise raid! I want this over with before they know what hit them." Chuck says to his eight man squad.

"Have plans sir?" Chief Rodriguez jokes earning a chuckle from the mini group.

"As a matter of fact, I do." Chuck responds to his Chief.

"Care to tell us what, sir?" Chief Miller chimes into the discussion.

"Sure, I can tell you. But only if you'll agree to be posted on guard-duty on base for the next six weeks once I've told you?" Chuck offers.

The Chief took a moment to contemplate if the offer was worth it just to have gossip on his CO, "I'll pass thanks, sir." Chief Miller responded eventually as the laughter continued.

Chuck snickered before replying, "That's what I thought..."

 **FOB Midnight**

 **22:45 hours**

All four assault teams were now embarked on their respective transportation helicopters and the helicopters were preparing to ascend and put distance between their base of operations.

"Take us into battle Jonas." Chuck said on radio to his Army pal.

"Roger that." The Major pilot said, as the rotor blades of the six American gunships began to spin into life.

 **23:05 hours**

 **Super Six One**

 **Iraqi Airspace**

The four American Black-Hawks and two Apache gunships had been in motion and heading for tonight's large-scale operation for twenty minutes now.

"Ten minutes to target, Commander." Major Eastwood interrupted Chuck's trail of thoughts as he then nodded his head acceptingly in response.

"Ten minutes!" Chuck shouted to his assault team as the small team of eight then began to psych themselves up and do their final checks.

 **Super Six One**

 **Iraqi Airspace**

 **23:13 hours**

"Two minutes to target Commander." Major Eastwood declared to Chuck.

"Two minutes!" Chuck shouted and motioned with two fingers of his hand as the squad all began to stand and prepare to fast-rope.

 **Super Six One**

 **Iraqi Airspace**

 **23:15 hours**

The six American gunships had now arrived in their area of operations and began to hover over the target area and the elite special forces personnel all began to disembark via fast-ropes from their respective helicopters as tonight's operation officially began.

 **Thirty seconds later**

Alpha Team were all boots on the ground and were now advancing in formation to the entrance of the target location as Team's Charlie and Delta had also disembarked and began to take up defensive positions to cover all directions of the target area of tonight's raid while Team Bravo had successfully fast-roped onto the roof of the target building and took up positions as they prepared to descend down into the complex of apartments. The air and surroundings inside the suburb of Fallujah was now lit up by the sights and sounds of six American gunships hovering overhead and four highly elite assault teams taking up positions inside the target area as the four special forces teams began to see lights turning on in every single direction around the area of operations.

Chuck's team continued to advance in formation toward the target building.

"Delta in position, south-eastern quadrant. Quiet and very little activity." Master Chief Garcia said as he appeared on the operations room communication channel.

"Copy that. Delta in position." Came the response from command and control as command updated the other three teams.

"Charlie in position. Two military age figures up an alleyway to the north of AO." Morgan said as he appeared on the communication channel.

"Copy that. Charlie in position." The operational commander responded and updated the three other teams with information.

 **23:18 hours**

Chuck's team were now positioned outside the entrance to the target location and the small fire team were preparing to breach as they began hearing an engagement from Bravo Team on the roof of the complex as it engaged with militants.

"Alpha Team in position. Preparing to breach." Chuck said onto comms.

"Copy that. Alpha preparing to breach." Came the response as the situation room informed the other three teams of information.

"Bravo Team contact! Small arms fire fourth stairwell!" Came the call from Lieutenant Wallace into comms.

"Copy that Bravo. Bravo Team in contact." Came the response from command and control as the operations commander informed the three remaining teams of development.

 **30 seconds later**

"Standby. Execute!" Commanded Chuck as the sound of an explosion then ripped through the air as Alpha Team breached into the ground floor of the target location.

"Alpha Team breach. Advancing and securing ground floor, out."

"Copy that. Alpha Team breach and securing ground floor." Came the response from command and control as the operations commander relayed the information to the other teams on the ground.

 **Two minutes later**

Alpha Team had now breached and cleared the three rooms on the ground floor and had neutralized two insurgents on the ground floor and sure enough there was a trap door leading to a cave system.

"I want you guarding here Trooper Jones." Chuck commanded to the SAS trooper.

"Yes sir." Replied the SAS trooper as he trained his sights on the ladder as the rest of Team Alpha began to depart the room and advance on up to the first floor of the apartment complex.

"Ground floor secured. Cave system found in apartment bravo. Advancing to first floor, out." Lieutenant Commander Bartowski said into comms as the small team began to advance further.

"Affirmative. Ground floor secured. Alpha team advancing to first floor." Came the response on the com channel as it relayed the information to the other teams on the ground.

Chuck was now on point and was advancing up the stairwell to the first floor when suddenly, on his Nine O'Clock a young boy that could have been no older than twelve appeared from out of an apartment and was pointing an assault rifle down the stairs towards the counter-insurgency assault squad that were advancing up the stairs and Chuck's brain immediately began to assess the situation he faced in-front of him and the young Lieutenant Commander hesitated for a split second too long in not pulling the trigger on the young boy he had in his sights when suddenly, a rapid burst was fired at Chuck from the insurgent boy and the sheer ferocity of the rounds impacting with Chuck caused the young Lieutenant Commander to tumble and fall backwards down the stairwell as he began screaming in immense agony.

"MAN DOWN, MAN DOWN!" Screamed Captain Cole Barker who was the second assaulter and following up behind Chuck and he immediately began to pull his friend out of the line of fire despite his training protocol screaming at him which was you don't stop for a man down but if he had not have done it his friend would almost certainly have been executed as the insurgent boy was taking aim at his friend who had fallen to the floor of the stairwell as the team's third assaulter Chief Rodriguez began to rain down a rapid burst of suppressive fire onto the position of the insurgent boy to stop him from finishing his now indefensible CO who was screaming in pain and being dragged away by Captain Cole Barker.

"Sit rep!" came an urgent demand over the communications channel as the small British and American team exchanged fire and engaged two militants one being an 11 year old boy on the first floor to provide suppressive fire for the Captain to pull Chuck out of the line of fire. Chief Miller immediately took over duties from the Captain and Cole immediately returned to ascend with his advancing team onto the first floor to clear out the floor of insurgents…

"SIR, WHERE ARE YOU HIT?" Chief Miller screamed at his CO as he placed him down outside one of the cleared rooms in the corridor of the ground floor.

"Abdomen!" Chuck cried out in pain as he spat out blood from his mouth as Chuck bled internally and externally as the Corpsman immediately got to work on assessing and checking for damage done to his CO...

 **Several moments later**

The Navy Corpsman had now finished his assessment of Chuck and immediately began to get to work on stabilizing his CO's condition.

"COMMANDER BARTOWSKI HAS BEEN HIT! 7.62 EXIT WOUND TO THE ABDOMEN! MASSIVE BLOOD LOSS! WE NEED A FUCKING MEDIVAC NOW!" Screamed Chief Miller as he applied pressure to his CO's gunshot wound that had ripped through the right side of his abdomen as his CO's blood seeped everywhere.

"Afirrmative. Standby." Came the response from command and control.

"How am I doing doc?" Chuck asked his Corpsman with blood still in his mouth as he spoke as he continued to feel extreme pain from where he had just been shot.

"You're gonna be fine sir! I need you to keep pressure here while I insert a drip!" Chief Miller shouted above the gunfire and American gunships hovering overhead as he immediately began to remove an iv line from his pack to give fluids to his CO as rapid gunfire and mini explosions continued to echo all around them.

Chuck nodded his head weakly as he did as his Corpsman instructed and applied pressure on his wound as a mini explosion just occurred on one of the higher floors...

 **Several minutes later**

Chuck's face was now getting paler and paler and he had now entered a confused state of mind while beginning to feel extremely drowsy as his condition began to rapidly deteriorate because of how much blood he was losing.

"How is he Chief?" Captain Barker asked Chief Miller over the team com channel as he engaged with militants on the second floor.

"He's deteriorating rapidly sir! He's going into hypovolemic shock. He's losing too much blood! We need that fucking evac now! Where the hell is it!" yelled Corpsman Miller as he continued to attend to his CO as he attempted to stabilize his condition and gave him morphine for pain relief.

"Command, where's that bloody evac!" Cole screamed over comms as he returned fire with insurgents.

"ETA ten minutes." Came the response from command.

"Fuck!" Cole exclaimed as he continued to exchange fire while covered in one of his best friends blood...

"STAY AWAKE SIR!" Chief Miller screamed and commanded his CO as he continued working on him in extreme conditions as gunfire still continued to fill the air inside this apartment complex in Fallujah.

"We need to get him to the emergency evac now!" Corpsman Miller yelled to one of the SAS troopers posted on the ground floor as he began to prepare his stretcher.

 **Three minutes later**

The target building had now been cleared and a clean-up operation was now in effect as Alpha and Bravo teams had linked up with one another and began to gather intelligence and make safe bombs and explosives that had been discovered in the apartment complex.

"Chief..." Chuck says in a faint whisper as blood continues to leave his mouth.

"Don't talk sir, save your strength!" Chief Miller says to his CO as he continues to work on his deteriorating condition.

Chuck weakly grabs hold of his Corpsman with his hand to pull him toward him. "Tell... Sarah... I... lov..." Chuck breathes out in a gasping faint whisper as his airways struggle for air as his condition continues to worsen due to the sheer amount of how much blood he has lost as his body begins to shut down completely.

"You're going to tell her yourself sir!" Chief Miller exclaimed as he prepared to transport his CO to the emergency evacuation point with an SAS trooper while Third Class Perez provided cover as they dashed to the ERV.

"FUCKING STAY AWAKE SIR!" Chief Miller screamed at his CO to try and keep his CO conscious and responsive as Chuck began to slip into an unresponsive state.

 **Four minutes later**

Chief Miller had now transported Chuck to the ERV and was awaiting arrival of the medevac as the Chief continued to provide immediate emergency care and attention to his CO as he checked for a pulse.

"I'VE GOT NO PULSE!" Chief Miller screamed suddenly. "HOLD HIS DRIP AND APPLY PRESSURE TO HIS WOUND! I'M STARTING CPR!" the Corpsman screamed to the SAS trooper as he began to apply chest compressions to his officer to preserve his brain's functioning until Chuck could get the help that he needs on-board the medevac.

"FUCKING STAY WITH US SIR!" Corpsman Miller screamed as he continued to work on his CO as the seals in the north-western defensive perimeter including Chuck's best friend Morgan stood anxiously watching their unresponsive CO as the team Corpsman began CPR on Chuck's unresponsive body.

 **Two minutes later**

The emergency medevac Black Hawk had just landed and Chief Miller plus an SAS trooper embarked Chuck into the waiting transport as two medics plus Chief Miller as his primary caregiver now encircled around him and began to work on the injured officer.

"HE'S IN CARDIAC ARREST! UNRESPONSIVE TO CPR FOR THREE MINUTES!" Chief Miller yelled above the noise of the helicopter to the medics on-board now also caring for Chuck as the medevac immediately began to ascend into the air to head to a major trauma centre as one of the medics immediately began to get the on-board defibrillator as Chief Miller and another medic stripped Chuck's chest to put defibrillator pads onto his chest.

The medic returned with the life saving piece of equipment and immediately prepared it for use on the Lieutenant Commander.

"CHARGING!"

"CLEAR!" The medic screamed above the loud noise of the moving helicopter as the three combat medical professionals continued to work on Chuck as they stood clear from Chuck's body as the defibrillator sent a shock of electrical volts to his chest.

"NO RESPONSE!" The medic that was checking for a pulse from Chuck yelled while Corpsman Chief Miller then continued to perform chest compressions on his CO as the medic in charge of the defibrillator prepared another immediate charge of electrical volts to Chuck's chest as they worked in extremely challenging circumstances with flight turbulence.

"CHARGING!"

"CLEAR!" the medic yelled as he once more sent a charge to Chuck's chest once the medics had stood clear of his body.

"NO RESPONSE!" The medic checking for a pulse yelled as the medical team immediately prepared a third charge and Chief Miller continued CPR on his CO.

"CHARGING!"

"CLEAR!" the medic yelled as a third defibrillator charge was sent to Chuck's chest.

"NO RESPONSE!" the medic yelled as he continued to check for a pulse from Chuck as Chief Miller continued chest compressions as another medic now prepared a fourth charge.

"CHARGING!"

"CLEAR!" the medic yelled as a fourth defibrillator charge was given to Chuck.

"I HAVE A PULSE!" The medic screamed as he then continued to assess his patient. "EXTREMELY FAINT!" the medic in charge of checking for a pulse on Chuck screamed as he provided the other medics with further information on the condition of Chuck.

"YOU FUCKING HANG IN THERE SIR! SARAH NEEDS YOU!" Chief Miller screamed as he stood over his CO on the medevac hawk as the two medics and corpsman worked furiously to attempt to stabilize the gravely wounded officer…

 **End of Chapter**

Oh dear, is that another almighty cliffhanger from that evil Charah?! I just can't seem to help myself. Please review, THANK YOU!

Let us all hope that Chuck is okay! and Sarah! Find out, Next Chapter!


	28. Redemption: Part Two

Please continue to review and interact with me my new friends who joined me in 26 for the first time :) Your interaction is why I'm here right now and not taking over the world as Germany in Hearts of Iron 4 or camping inside a building in PUBG and slaughtering anybody that opens the door to my spot instead, LOL!

I would have said Dota, but I can't recommend that game to anybody as the toxicity is really quite unbearable and nobody needs that in their life!

I hate the guy (also a fellow Chuckster who I met here) that introduced me to Dota! Hotski, why oh why did you ever do that?! Lol!

I wish I could have included Jeffster in this story. I love those two guys. And Big Mike. And Emmett. And Harry Tang. And Volkoff. I love EVERYTHING about Chuck, which is why it's my all time favorite show.

I've not even included Ellie and Awesome yet in this one, but they'll be coming soon!

I've been tidying up my Love-Struck Spies sandbox and I REALLY love that story. I'm going to have to go back to it at some point. I JUST LOVE IT!

* * *

 _Previously; "NO RESPONSE!" the medic yelled as he continued to check for a pulse from Chuck as Chief Miller continued chest compressions as another medic now prepared a fourth charge._

 _"CHARGING!"_

 _"CLEAR!" the medic yelled as a fourth defibrillator charge was given to Chuck._

 _"I HAVE A PULSE!" The medic screamed as he then continued to assess his patient. "EXTREMELY FAINT!" the medic in charge of checking for a pulse on Chuck screamed as he provided the other medics with further information on the condition of Chuck._

 _"YOU FUCKING HANG IN THERE SIR! SARAH NEEDS YOU!" Chief Miller screamed as he stood over his CO on the medevac hawk as the two medics and corpsman worked furiously to attempt to stabilize the gravely wounded officer…_

* * *

 **Chapter Twenty Eight**

 **Redemption: Part Two**

 **Helicopter Landing Area**

 **Ibn Sina Hospital**

 **Green Zone**

 **Baghdad**

 **Iraq**

 **00:00 hours**

The emergency medevac carrying Chuck had just touched down at the biggest trauma centre in the country and the medics working on him immediately began to disembark their passenger and transferred him to a waiting hospital trolley bed as a group of five U.S. Army doctors waited for their patient to transfer him over to their specialized care.

"What have we got?!" One of the specialist army doctors yelled to Corpsman Miller and the two medics that had been caring for Chuck onboard the medevac as the large group of medical professionals began to race Chuck towards the emergency operating room and the Corpsman informed the doctors of his CO's condition as they dashed towards it.

"7.62 GSW to his abdomen! Internal and external bleeding! His blood pressure is extremely low! Administered high dosage of blood pressure raising medicines on-board! Very weak pulse! Patient went into cardiac arrest and was unresponsive for several minutes! Heart rhythm was successfully restored after resuscitation! Patient is not breathing unaided and ventilator is required!" Corpsman Miller yelled as he continued to race along with the group of doctors towards the entrance to the critical section of the hospital.

"He needs a blood transfusion and we need to get him into surgery right now and stop that bleeding before we lose him altogether!" The doctor yelled back as they hurriedly escorted Chuck into the major trauma centre.

The group of medical professionals and Chuck were now inside the hospital and heading straight to the operating theatre to perform immediate life-saving treatment and surgery.

"Corpsman, you've done all you can! We'll take it from here!" The doctors yelled to Chief Miller as the Chief then stopped outside the operating theatre with the evidence of being in battle all over him as he was covered from head to toe in dirt, gun residue and Chuck's blood as the Chief stood and watched his CO disappear out from sight and into the operating theatre by the five specialist doctors escorting him...

The climb down from the insanely high adrenalin rush that the Corpsman had worked himself into as he fought desperately to save Chuck's life and keep him alive was too overpowering for the Corpsman and he immediately pounded his fist into a waiting wall several times in immense frustration as the emotion was too much for him and it hit him like a tidal wave as his CO's life now hung on by a thread and he was completely powerless to do any more to help...

x-x-x-x-x-x-x

 **Ibn Sina Hospital**

 **Green Zone**

 **Baghdad**

 **Iraq**

 **01:30 Hours**

Corpsman Miller was still inside the ER in the hospital just outside where Chuck had been whisked into earlier as he sat waiting in the corridor for any news of his CO when he saw Sarah arrive followed by his XO and Captain Cole Barker and Sarah was looking extremely frantic as she barreled through the corridor towards the Chief as Morgan and Cole followed more slowly behind with all three of them looking grim and sorrowed and deflated and just about every other painful emotion which matched the Corpsman's own facial expressions and body language.

"Where is he?!" Sarah screamed at the Corpsman with her face looking like an absolute train-wreck as she ran right up to the Chief who had stood up from where he was sitting out in the corridor just previously to acknowledge his CO's girlfriend.

"He's in there." Chief Miller said as he nodded his head to the operating theatre that Chuck was inside.

Sarah immediately rushed away from the Chief and straight towards the door that Chuck was being operated on inside.

The Corpsman quickly dashed and caught up to her and grabbed hold of her arms to hold her back and to stop her from entering the OR which she was about to do.

"Sarah, you can't go in there! You can't see him like that!" the Chief yelled and pleaded as he tried to restrain a frantic Sarah that was now trying to fight her way to get to Chuck.

"He needs me!" Screamed Sarah as she continued to try to fight her way free of the Corpsman who now had her in a grip to protect her from seeing Chuck in the absolute state that he was presently in.

"Sarah, he would not want you to see him like this! I can't let you!" Chief Miller yelled emotionally at his CO's girlfriend as he continued to forcefully restrain her from entering the operating theatre and witnessing Chuck in the condition that he was in as Sarah continued to attempt to fight her way free of the grip in an absolutely frantic state of mind.

Sarah and the Chief had now been joined by Morgan and Cole who had travelled with Sarah to the hospital with the help of Chuck's army friend Major Jonas Eastwood who insisted on giving them a lift after seeing the extremely dangerous state of mind that Sarah was in as she stood helplessly at the landing pads at FOB Midnight when the team of thirty returned from the operation.

Morgan had now moved to stand infront of Sarah and was blocking her from opening the door as Sarah doubled her attempts to try and fight her way free of the Corpsman behind her and now Morgan infront of her to get to Chuck inside the operating theatre in the most frantic state that she has ever been in her whole life as she ranted and raved and kicked and pushed in an attempt to break free just to get to him.

"What is going on here?!" Yelled two military police at the hospital as they joined in the commotion that Sarah was causing outside the operating room.

Cole attempted to diffuse the situation with the military police to get them to back off and allow an extremely frantic and emotional Sarah time to calm down. "Give her a minute please chaps. That man inside that OR means absolutely everything to her. Have some compassion." Cole said as he appealed compassionately to both of them.

"Sir, if you can't restrain her then I'm afraid we'll have to remove her with force. This is a military hospital." The MP's warned to Cole even though they felt pretty crappy about it.

"Just give us a minute! For god sake! Please!" Cole yelled to them as he stood in a protective stance blocking them from getting past him towards Sarah who was still trying to fight her way into the operating room to get to Chuck.

"Sarah please you need to calm down or we are going to get thrown out!" Morgan shouted emotionally at Sarah as he tried to calm his best-friends girlfriends frantic and inconsolable state of mind as she fought with him and Chief Miller.

But Sarah was still crying and in a frantic state and her mind can't register anything other than the man being operated on inside the room that she is forcefully trying to enter "He needs to be ok Morgan! I need him! I can't live without him!" Sarah wailed and screamed in the middle of the hospital as she paused from forcefully fighting with Chuck's two Navy SEAL friends to get to him and began to break up and cry just as she had been doing for the past two hours.

Morgan continued to feel emotional as he protectively stood in-front of his best friends soulmate as he refused to allow her to go through that door and see his best friend like that.

"That's why he will be Sarah! He needs you too! He wont lose you now he has you again! He loves and needs you too!" Morgan shouted back emotionally to her before the young Lieutenant decided to remove his Corpsman's arms that were physically restraining her and he sympathetically and reassuringly hugged her instead as Sarah stood in the corridor of the hospital broken and inconsolable as her whole body trembled and her jaw chattered in severe emotional trauma and shock as tears continued to stream down her face...

x-x-x-x-x-x

"Let's sit you down and wait patiently Sarah. He is in good hands and there is nothing either of us can do. I'm hurting too just like you." Morgan said emotionally after two mintues as he wiped his face from where his own tears had formed on the battle-hardened DEVGRU operator's face as he then tried to move her towards the seats but Sarah was still being resistant and not wanting to move an inch.

"He will be ok Sarah, trust me. Our Chuck is a fighter and he wont give up." Morgan says reassuringly as Sarah finally then begins to reluctantly follow Morgan over to Chief Miller and Cole while looking in a world of her own as her eyes continued to zone out into space and her severe mental state of trauma continued.

"Chief, you get yourself some rest. You've done all you can. Major Eastwood is waiting and he'll take you back to base." Morgan says to his Corpsman who was looking in an absolutely awful state with battle signs all over him.

"Aye, sir." Chief Miller replies as he nods his head acceptingly while feeling more emotionally spent than he's ever been in his life after the massive battle he had just been part of to save Chuck's life.

"I'll never forget what you did for him John." Sarah says heart-felt and sincerely with her eyes still extremely glossy while continuing to feel her severely anguished state of mind.

"It's my job Sarah." The Chief replies emotionally to her.

"And a damn good one you did too Chief." Said Cole proudly with immense respect as he shook the Chief's hand for doing all he could as he battled furiously to keep one of his best friends alive.

"Amen to that." Said Morgan as he also stood to shake the hand of the Chief as the Chief then began to reluctantly depart for their base of operations as Morgan then moved to sit back down next to Sarah again as Sarah, Morgan and Cole waited anxiously for news on somebody that meant so much to all three of them…

Forty minutes later

Sarah, Morgan and Cole were still stationary outside the operating theatre that Chuck was inside and Sarah had calmed down a little at least in the sense that there were no more outbursts or tears now, just dread and utter brokenness when a U.S. Army doctor suddenly came out of the OR and Sarah immediately dashed out of her seat to race up to him.

"How is he!" Sarah yelled emotionally as she reached the doctor.

"It's too early to say ma'am." The doctor nodded his head at her sympathetically, before attempting to walk away again but Sarah stopped him by putting an arm of his shoulder to stop him.

"Please! I need to know he's ok!" Sarah yelled as she began to get extremely emotional again as tears filled up in her eyes once more.

"I'm really sorry ma'am, but I just can't give you that information right now. We are still doing all we can to work on him I assure you. Now I really have to get back to what I was doing urgently." The doctor said, before hurriedly continuing on with what he was doing once more as Sarah stood and gazed distantly at the operating room door in a complete world of her own…

 **03:30 hours**

Sarah, Morgan and Cole were still waiting outside the operating theatre that Chuck was inside. All three of them still anxiously waiting for news.

"What happened to him?" Sarah asked his two friends as they continued to sit and wait.

"I'm not so sure you should know that Sarah." Morgan said sympathetically as he didn't want Sarah to go through any more trauma and anguish than she had already had and was already going through.

"Please, I need to know." Sarah implored Chuck's friends and officers.

Morgan sighed to himself as he didn't think it was a good idea.

"There was a boy on the top of the first floor. He was no older than twelve. Chuck hesitated and couldn't pull the trigger on him and the boy shot him." Said Cole as he painfully recalled what had happened to his friend inside that apartment complex in Fallujah.

"Oh my god!" Sarah gasped in utter shock as she flung a hand to her mouth to try and stem the shock of what she had just heard.

"I'm sorry." Cole said remorsefully as he hung his head down to the floor in sorrow.

"Was you the one who pulled him from getting shot any more?" Sarah asked Cole.

"Yeah… I broke training regulations but Chuck would have done exact the same for me." Cole said with the slightest of smiles that he could manage from his own gloomy state of mind.

"Thank you so much!" Sarah said emotionally to Cole as the two friends and lover of Chuck then continued to sit and wait for news of him...

 **06:00 hours**

Sarah and Morgan were sat still waiting for news on Chuck's condition outside the operating theatre and Cole had gone to get the trio a beverage when a doctor left the operating theatre that Chuck was inside.

Sarah immediately bolted up once more from where she had sat and walked to the doctor.

"How is he?" Sarah asked in a depressed tone of voice.

"He's out of surgery ma'am but there have been complications." The doctor said and paused briefly to allow her information to register "He's comatose and we don't know the extent of how much tissue died when he stopped living for several minutes. I'm sorry ma'am." The doctor said sympathetically to Sarah.

"Oh my god!" Sarah cried out as she moved a hand over her mouth in deep anguish as the doctors words impacted her state of mind severely.

Morgan had now stood up also and moved to rub Sarah's shoulder comfortingly.

"Can I see him?" Sarah asked emotionally as she sniffled her nose and continued her deep state of anguish while being unable to make much eye contact with the doctor because of how depressed she now felt.

"That's just not possible ma'am. We're attempting to stabilize his condition before transferring him to the intensive care unit. I'm really sorry." the doctor said sympathetically and gave Sarah a weak smile before walking away.

Sarah suddenly began to get extremely upset and emotional once more as she stood in the middle of the hospital a broken mess.

"Hang in there doll. You need to be strong for him, ok?" Morgan says sincerely to his best-friends soulmate.

Sarah didn't respond and tears filled up in her eyes as she continued to feel the deepest state of anguish she ever has ever felt in her life as she stood brokenly.

"He'll come through this Sarah, you'll see." Morgan said confident and reassuringly as he tried to cheer her spirits up.

Sarah turned to face Morgan again and looked at him with a broken expression on her face as the floodgates began to open up once more.

"I can't lose him again Morgan!" Sarah said as she began to weep and cry not knowing what to do with herself as she began to look at Morgan in a complete world of her own, her eyes completely zoned out in a deep feeling of anguish.

"You wont lose him Sarah." Morgan said reassuringly as he rubbed her shoulder with his hand comfortingly before continuing, "He will come back to you and one day you'll get married to each other and I'll be stood right there with you as his best man when you exchange your vows and then you'll have your children and hopefully you'll ask me to be a godparent." Morgan said while finishing with a smile and mini chuckle to try and cheer up Sarah from the severe emotional trauma that she was going through right now.

Sarah let out an extremely weak smile in response to what Morgan said. "I hope so Morgan." She said weakly as she sniffled her nose once more.

"Sarah, I know so. Chuck is coming back to us. He won't leave you alone in this world. I know my best friend and you're probably in his thoughts right now. He loves you Sarah, more than anything in this world and you need to hold onto that. I need you to stay strong, for him, ok?" Morgan said comfortingly to her as he continued to try to lift her spirits.

Sarah nodded her head acceptingly at Morgan. "Ok."

 **09:00 hours**

Sarah, Morgan and Cole were all still inside the ER of the military hospital but it was now time for Morgan and Cole to leave as they had duties and responsibilities to attend to.

"Sarah, we need to leave now." Morgan said sadly as he wanted to stay right here with Sarah but the war doesn't just stop because the person that means everything to them is gravely injured.

Sarah nodded her head acceptingly.

"We'll come back and visit just as soon as we are able to." Morgan said sincerely.

"What about you Sarah?" Cole asked Sarah.

"I'm staying right here." Sarah said more determined than she had ever been.

"What about your job?" Cole asked sincerely.

"What about it?" Sarah asked blankly.

"They'll be wondering where you are."

"I don't care." Sarah responded simply without even thinking about it. As of right now, Sarah's entire life is on hold and it's not going to resume again until the battle to heal Chuck has been won and even if she loses her job because of it she doesn't give a flying hooter.

"I'll reach out to them for you and say you need at least a weeks compassionate leave." Morgan offered her.

"Thanks." replied Sarah.

Morgan and Cole then hugged Sarah and said their goodbyes, leaving Sarah to sit alone in the hospital corridor as she gazed completely zoned out and in a world of her own at a hospital wall…

 **End of Chapter.**

Please review :)

Next Chapter: Redemption: Part Three. Chuck's battle to stay alive continues and he gets transferred to intensive care and we continue to experience the sorrow that Sarah is going through :(

Morgan came through massively for Sarah in this chapter even though he was immensely hurting himself. I hope there are no longer Morgan haters in this story. The past two chapters have proved that even though he's an ass and behaves like he has the intersect he's still the Morgan Grimes that cares immensely about his best friend Chuck. And even in Chapter 23, Morgan haters should have changed then when he did what he did on seeing the state that Sarah was in.


	29. Redemption: Part Three

Reviews have plummeted again since 26. please don't go silent on me. If there's something you don't like or something wrong with the story direction speak up and leave a review or PM, that way I know what I'm doing wrong and what I'm doing right. Reviews don't always have to be positive. To be honest, the silence is A LOT worse than negative reviews as I start to second guess myself and the story direction.

* * *

 _Previously; "NO RESPONSE!" the medic yelled as he continued to check for a pulse from Chuck as Chief Miller continued chest compressions as another medic now prepared a fourth charge._

 _"CHARGING!"_

 _"CLEAR!" the medic yelled as a fourth defibrillator charge was given to Chuck._

 _"I HAVE A PULSE!" The medic screamed as he then continued to assess his patient. "EXTREMELY FAINT!" the medic in charge of checking for a pulse on Chuck screamed as he provided the other medics with further information on the condition of Chuck._

 _"YOU FUCKING HANG IN THERE SIR! SARAH NEEDS YOU!" Chief Miller screamed as he stood over his CO on the medevac hawk as the two medics and corpsman worked furiously to attempt to stabilize the gravely wounded officer…_

 _"How is he?" Sarah asked in a depressed tone of voice._

 _"He's out of surgery ma'am but there have been complications." The doctor said and paused briefly to allow her information to register "He's comatose and we don't know the extent of how much tissue died when he stopped living for several minutes. I'm sorry ma'am." The doctor said sympathetically to Sarah._

 _"Oh my god!" Sarah cried out as she moved a hand over her mouth in deep anguish as the doctors words impacted her state of mind severely._

 _Morgan had now stood up also and moved to rub Sarah's shoulder comfortingly._

 _"Can I see him?" Sarah asked emotionally as she sniffled her nose and continued her deep state of anguish while being unable to make much eye contact with the doctor because of how depressed she now felt._

 _"That's just not possible ma'am. We're attempting to stabilize his condition before transferring him to the intensive care unit. I'm really sorry." the doctor said sympathetically and gave Sarah a weak smile before walking away._

 _Sarah suddenly began to get extremely upset and emotional once more as she stood in the middle of the hospital a broken mess._

 _"Hang in there doll. You need to be strong for him, ok?" Morgan says sincerely to his best-friends soulmate._

* * *

 **Chapter Twenty Nine**

 **Redemption: Part Three**

 ** **Ibn Sina Hospital****

 ** **Green Zone****

 ** **Baghdad****

 ** **Iraq****

 ** **1**** ** **9**** ** **October****

It had been three days since Chuck was medevaced into the hospital for life-saving treatment. Sarah had not been allowed to see Chuck yet, but today she was going to be able to, curtsy of Chuck's father Admiral Bartowski who had been informed by Morgan about what an absolutely destructive state of mind that Sarah was in which caused the Admiral to feel extremely guilty because he played a part in his son joining up in the Navy to begin with so he made a few calls and successfully persuaded them that Sarah be allowed access to see his son.

"You must know some powerful people ma'am. I think you're the first person to be allowed to see a patient at this hospital in ICU." The military nurse at the desk of ICU said to Sarah who was standing over the desk.

"Thank you so much." Sarah said sincerely to the nurse with a bright smile.

"You don't need to thank me ma'am. Thank the person that organized this." The nurse responded.

"I will." Sarah said with conviction.

"Are you sure it's a good idea ma'am? He's not going to look pretty," the nurse warned Sarah.

Sarah nodded her head yes at the nurse.

"I need to see him, to apologize. This is all my fault. He shouldn't be here." Sarah said emotionally as her words caused her to get upset and she had to choke back a tidal wave of emotions

"We all make mistakes ma'am. You're here for him right now in the middle of nowhere many thousand miles away from home. That has to count for something." The military nurse says sincerely to Sarah before standing up from where she was seated and walked up to Sarah. "I'll take you to him. Follow me."

Sarah then followed and walked along with the nurse for a few short moments until arriving at the bedside of her soulmate and on arriving, she was unable to stop herself gasping in shock at seeing him attached to a ventilator and all sorts of medical devices all around him.

"I'll close the curtains ma'am to give you some privacy. I can only allow you ten minutes with him as we need to closely monitor him." The nurse said as she began to draw the curtains.

"That's fine, thank you." Sarah said as she sniffled her nose from where she had welled up on seeing her soulmate in the condition he was in.

Sarah then moved to sit next to Chuck, and began to gather her thoughts as she waited until the nurse had left before she began to speak to him. "Hi baby." Sarah paused as she affectionately touched where one of his arms were resting. "Look what I've done to you... I'm so sorry baby, this is all my fault. I did this to you" Sarah said emotionally as tears filled up in her eyes as she began to well up once more as her emotions completely overpowered her "I should have told the CIA where to stick their job when they approached me all those years ago baby. I wanted the adventure, everything was always about what I wanted and screw everybody else." Sarah paused again to wipe her now wet face and to try and control the deep sorrow and shame she now felt with herself "What about what you wanted Chuck? what about what you needed? You gave me more adventure than I could have needed, you were perfect, I just didn't realize how perfect until I lost you." Sarah paused again to sniffle her nose and attempted to unsuccessfully control her emotions.

"I know I don't deserve you after what I did to you Chuck. And I feel so selfish because of how much I need you. I'm nothing without you baby." Sarah paused to run a hand over her eyes and down to her neck as she wiped away the many tears that had formed and she sniffled her nose once more. "I wish you would never have joined the Navy, that you'd found a normal job… Even if I would never have found you again, it would have been worth it to not see you hurt. I can't bear to see you suffer." Sarah paused as she began to sob for a moment in anguish. "All that pain you've experienced the past six years. I'm so, so sorry for what I have done to you. You didn't deserve this baby. Sarah continued to audibly cry. "You're the kindest, sweetest most loving guy I have ever met and now look where you are. In a hospital bed fighting for your life all because of me. I'm so sorry baby. I'm so, so sorry..."

x-x-x-x-x-x-x

 ** **Ibn Sina Hospital****

 ** **Green Zone****

 ** **Baghdad****

 ** **Iraq****

 ** **2**** ** **1**** ** **October****

Sarah was now back in the exact same spot that she had been in two days ago when she was first allowed to see Chuck and today she was sitting in the exact same spot and touching his arm affectionately once more.

"Good evening baby. I'm back again to disturb your peaceful sleep. You probably want to be alone to rest and heal up, but I can't leave you alone." Sarah paused to laugh and smile as she gazed at her sleeping soulmate for a long moment. "I need you Chuck. Please don't make me try to live without you baby." Sarah paused as she welled up and the emotions flew out of her again once more as the tears fell once more. "I can't live without you Chuck. I don't know how." Sarah paused to sniffle her nose, before continuing to talk to her soulmate who was in a peaceful sleep, "I was empty for six long years, and then I found you again. I just want to see you smile again baby, come back to me so I can see you smile. I need you." Sarah stood up from where she had sat and rubbed her hand over her face to remove her many tears from her face "I'm sorry. I'm so emotional. I guess I'm not good company right now and you'd sooner have Morgan or someone here instead of me bugging you." Sarah paused to laugh, before continuing, "I think my time is up now baby. I'll be back tomorrow. Rest easy baby. I love you more than I can even begin to tell you." Sarah took her soulmates hand and kissed it lovingly, before turning and reluctantly walking to open the hospital curtain…

x-x-x-x-x-x-x

 **Ibn Sina Hospital**

 **Green Zone**

 **Baghdad**

 **Iraq**

 **23 October**

Sarah once more was sitting next to Chuck in the intensive care ward of the hospital and touching his arm lovingly as he lay peacefully.

"Hi baby, I'm back again. I'm not going to leave you alone until you come back to me. So the quicker you do, the easier it will be for you because I'm going to be here everyday annoying and talking to you until you do. So it would be easier on yourself just to wake up now." Sarah paused to laugh and smile, as she gazed at the sleeping eyes of her soulmate with her hand lovingly over his own.

"When you do wake up you'll probably have become tired of hearing me speak and won't be able to stand hearing me talk to you because of how much I've annoyed you." Sarah laughed. "I love you baby." She whispered to him...

x-x-x-x-x-x-x

 ** **Ibn Sina Hospital****

 ** **Green Zone****

 ** **Baghdad****

 ** **Iraq****

 ** **24**** ** **O**** ** **ctober****

Chuck had now been at the hospital for eight days and inside ICU for seven and Sarah was once more at his bedside talking to her soulmate.

"I want to leave the CIA baby. I know it's selfish of me to ask, because I'm the one that got us into this mess in the first place by joining it and spying for them all those years ago, but I just want us to be a normal couple again baby. The last time I seen you, you told me there was death and destruction all around us and it stinks. And you're right, it does stink. I want out baby, I just want you." Sarah paused to take the hand of her soulmate, before continuing, " I want that business we were going to start up together after Stanford. I want our dream house with the white picket fence that we talked about. Though I loved the apartment that we shared in Echo Park, we had so much fun there baby." Sarah said with a grin as she recalled the many memories that they had created together...

Sarah then began to speak once more, with an emotional tone attached to her voice, "I'll never forgive myself for what I ruined Chuck. And I didn't just ruin us, I crushed your mum, and Ellie too. You may have forgiven me, but I will never forgive myself for what I did, and I'm sure your mum and Ellie won't either." Sarah paused to sniffle her nose and stifle her tears before continuing once more, "But I don't blame them. I just hope one day that they can see how devoted I'm going to be to you for the rest of our lives when you come back to me. I love you baby." Sarah stood and kissed his hand lovingly, before reluctantly departing...

x-x-x-x-x-x-x

 ** **Ibn Sina Hospital****

 ** **Green Zone****

 ** **Baghdad****

 ** **Iraq****

 ** **2**** ** **5**** ** **O**** ** **ctober****

Sarah was once more back at the bedside of where her soulmate was recovering after being gravely injured ten days ago.

"I'm back again baby. So, what did we talk about yesterday?" Sarah paused to try to think what they talked about and pick up from their conversation from yesterday.

"Oh, I was talking about your family and telling you how sorry I am. Which I know you're tired of hearing but I can't help it. I crushed and broke you and yet you gave me a second chance." Sarah paused as her emotions began to overwhelm her once more. "I don't know if you love the Navy or not, it might be all you have now. But I think I can make you happy Chuck." Sarah paused as she lovingly took her soulmates hand with her own, "I've been thinking about what you told me back at my quarters in Virginia, where you told me you were going to ask me to be your wife." Sarah paused for a brief moment to gather her thoughts, before continuing, "Baby, the day that I marry you it will be the most perfect day of my life. I hope we can one day, and you still want it, because for me to be able to call myself your wife, it will be the proudest best thing to ever happen to me to be able to call myself Sarah Bartowski." Sarah paused for a moment to get her breath back before continuing again, "You need to come back to me so we can make that happen baby, if that's what you want... I know I'm coming on heavy, but I love you. I love you so much I can't live without you…" Sarah paused to wipe her tears that had came during her revelations "I have to go now baby, but I'll be back here tomorrow with you. I love you." Sarah then leaned in to kiss her soulmates cheek affectionately.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x

 **Ibn Sina Hospital**

 **Green Zone**

 **Baghdad**

 **Iraq**

 **26 October**

Sarah was once more at the bedside of her soulmate and talking to him as he slept peacefully.

"I hope you're not having any nightmares baby. It breaks my heart when I see you suffer, if you are I'll be extremely sad because I'm unable to comfort you and help you through them as I have been doing since we got back together." Sarah paused to smile affectionately at her soulmate.

"I have to tell you the truth baby, the night you stayed with me in my quarters in Virginia, I kissed you when you were asleep. I promised that I just wanted you to hold me, but I couldn't help it. I couldn't bear seeing you hurting, I'm sorry." Sarah laughed as she moved to kiss his hand lovingly. "I love you." Sarah declared powerfully before reluctantly leaving as her visiting time was up...

x-x-x-x-x-x-x

 **Ibn Sina Hospital**

 **Green Zone**

 **Baghdad**

 **Iraq**

 **27 October**

Chuck had now been in Ibn Sina Hospital for eleven days and Sarah once more was at his bedside by his side with him.

"Good news baby, they're moving you to another hospital soon as your condition is more stable. Sarah paused as she smiled brightly at the revelation before continuing, "But unfortunately, you won't be getting rid of me. I'm going to be right there with you." Sarah paused to smile again before continuing, "I will follow you wherever you go Chuck. I lost you once and I will never lose you again. I'll fight for you until I can fight no more and if I lose you then I'm finished on this earth too." Sarah declared powerfully with conviction and paused for a moment before continuing, "Please come back to me. We have our whole lives ahead of us. Morgan joked about us starting a family when you first arrived, that he'd be a godparent." Sarah paused to laugh as she stroked her soulmates hand affectionately with her own. "I couldn't say yes or no because I had to ask you first. So what do you think baby? Would he be a good godparent for our children? I hope we have five children. They'll all be beautiful inside just like their father. I love you so much Chuck, I just wanted you to know that." Sarah finished as she stood up to kiss her soulmates cheek affectionately before reluctantly departing to leave him in peace once more...

 **End of Chapter**

Next Chapter: Redemption: Part Four. Chuck is moved to a different hospital with his condition stabilized. Sarah gets to stay with him, curtsy of the Admiral once more. Also, the Admiral pays a visit and you ABSOLUTELY need to tune in and read happens in that one.

Please review, thank you.


	30. Redemption: Part Four

Hello my dearest Chuck friends. I have a few Author's Note's at the end of this chapter to explain a couple of things happening in this chapter.

And I will now reply to my guest reviewers.

Seattle: I just lose motivation to write without interaction. I've stated many times that I'm here purely for interactive purposes. I own about three hundred TV shows. I have a steam video game library approaching nearly 2,000 video games. But instead of doing all of that, I'm choosing to spend my free time writing and sharing Chuck fictions with you :) which I get absolutely no payment for, other than your interaction. Which is why I ask for Reviews or PM's because without them, I really do have no purpose to being here… And it's not just me I'm speaking about here. If you enjoy reading the story of any other author on fanfiction, for any TV show or movie or book or game, then you should interact with them and tell them as such and offer your opinion and insight and let them know your thoughts about how the story is progressing.

I have to disagree with the last chapter being 'redundant' as you don't just suddenly wake up from a coma overnight, and if I'd have had Chuck wake up instantly or flash forward five weeks without showing any development whatsoever then that would have made the story feel more redundant and pointless as opposed to the recovery process being a slow work in progress. The segment allows the reader to see Sarah's absolute devotion to Chuck. Sarah joined the CIA all those years ago and broke up with him because she didn't want him around the life that she'd been living which was full of lies and deception and ultimately death (when she was caught spying on the person on campus and had no choice but to kill him as it was him or her) she just couldn't bear the thought of him knowing she was a killer but then when Chuck now needs her most, she's turned her back on the CIA and is fully devoted and committed to him and only him, even going as far as to telling him she wants to leave the CIA. I thought that the last chapter was great and essential for story development as it truly shows that Sarah has changed and is committed to repairing the damage that she alone did to their relationship. And this chapter will be the exact same format as the previous one.

Guest: I can't apologize for having Sarah use endearments all the time. I did use it a bit too much last chapter. But I just love it when I imagine Sarah calling Chuck baby. It gets me all giddy inside. That's just who I am and how I write and how I always will write. I have been in love with love and soppy romance since I was a young girl and my childhood sweetheart wrote me a love-letter using alphabet love sweets and I'm not going to stop now. Plus, honestly? I don't like the name Chuck that much to be honest. Chuck to me is kind of an annoying name (sorry if anybody reading this is called Chuck) and I much prefer using baby when possible as I get really tired of saying Chuck this and Chuck that all the time because I don't like repeating a name that I don't like but that's just me. I'm sure there are other writers that actually like the name Chuck and dislike using endearments but that's not me. Now Zach or Zachary? MUCH BETTER!

Word Count for this Chapter: 6000

* * *

 _Previously: "Good news baby, they're moving you to another hospital soon as your condition is more stable." Sarah paused as she smiled brightly at the revelation before continuing, "But unfortunately, you won't be getting rid of me. I'm going to be right there with you." Sarah paused to smile again before continuing, "I will follow you wherever you go Chuck. I lost you once and I will never lose you again. I'll fight for you until I can fight no more and if I lose you then I'm finished on this earth too." Sarah declared powerfully with conviction and paused for a moment before continuing, "Please come back to me. We have our whole lives ahead of us. Morgan joked about us starting a family when you first arrived, that he'd be a godparent." Sarah paused to laugh as she stroked her soulmate's hand affectionately with her own. "I couldn't say yes or no because I had to ask you first. So what do you think baby? Would he be a good godparent for our children? I hope we have five children. They'll all be beautiful inside just like their father. I love you so much Chuck, I just wanted you to know that." Sarah finished as she stood up to kiss her soulmate's cheek affectionately before reluctantly departing to leave him in peace once more..._

* * *

 **Chapter Thirty**

 **Redemption: Part Four**

 **Military Hospital**

 **Baghdad**

 **Iraq**

 **1 November**

Chuck had now been transferred to a recovery hospital to continue his recovery with his condition being stable and no longer an immediate threat to life. Chuck was still comatose and he was in a private hospital room on his own with no other patient in the room but Sarah had just arrived and was now at his side with him. Sarah had returned briefly to the base that she was situated at and almost every single person situated at that base had gone out of their way to make sure that she was okay and had told her that if there was anything that she needed then she need only have to ask any one of the several dozen people that had approached her. Sarah had lost count just how many people had actually approached her and it filled Sarah's heart with such warmth to know that there was so many people that cared about Chuck, and she thanked every single one of them for their kindness shown to herself and her soulmate.

Sarah had also contacted her CIA boss Director Graham and had told him in no uncertain terms that she would not be returning to work until Chuck did, and she had all but said that if they didn't like it, then they could stick their job where the sun don't shine and she would resign on the spot effective immediately. Sarah had several months of unused leave and whilst the circumstances of enforced leave during a deployment were not ideal, the Director agreed to her demands because Admiral Bartowski was a great friend of his and he had already asked as much on her behalf as a favour.

Sarah was sitting next to Chuck and she began to lovingly talk to her soulmate. "This place is nice baby. It's so much better than that ICU we were at for two weeks." Sarah stated as she smiled radiantly at him while glancing around and taking in the new surroundings inside the room he was recovering in.

"I'm going to try and get to stay with you Chuck. I know it wont be easy and you probably wouldn't want me to do that but I want to. I need to be with you, to help you fight through this. What kind of girlfriend would I be if I didn't?" Sarah paused to smile elegantly, before continuing to talk to him once more, "So, what should we talk about today baby?..."

x-x-x-x-x-x

 **Later That Evening**

Sarah must have dozed off next to Chuck inside the room he was recovering in at some point during the afternoon and her hand was interlocked with his own and she was disturbed awake by a nurse that had came to check in on him. The nurse had previously been in two times earlier on in the day but on seeing the extremely heart-warming scenario of the obvious lovers in peace together, she decided to do her checks on Chuck and then leave without disturbing the young woman that was with her patient, but it was now sadly time for her to leave.

"It's time to leave ma'am. I'm sorry." The nurse said sympathetically to Sarah who was now beginning to wake up, her hand still intertwined with Chuck's.

"Can I stay here. Please?" Sarah asked hopeful and drowsily as she began to come to and regain her senses from her previous sleep state.

"I'm sorry ma'am. I really wish I could permit it." The nurse paused to smile sympathetically at Sarah, before continuing, "If it was up to me, I would." The nurse stated sympathetically to Sarah as the nurse felt every single one of her heartstrings pull at the heartbreaking scenario in-front of her as she was now forced to separate somebody so clearly devoted to her patient.

Sarah's facial expressions and body language immediately began to fill up with a look of dejectedness and resignation.

"Can I have a minute to say goodbye to him?" Sarah asked the nurse in a dejected tone of voice as she began to feel her eyes becoming a little glossy because somebody was forcing her away from Chuck.

"Of course ma'am," the nurse replied before leaving the room to give the lovers a moment of privacy...

Sarah waited for the nurse to leave the room and breathed out a deep sigh of despondence before she began to say goodbye to her soulmate. "I have to leave you now Chuck... Goodnight baby... Sleep well... I'll be here with you tomorrow." Sarah paused to wipe her now watery eyes before standing up from where she'd been seated for several hours and she moved her lips to kiss her soulmates cheek affectionately for a long moment before finally breaking the kiss. "I love you." Sarah declared in the form of a powerful whisper, before turning from him as she then began to extremely reluctantly walk to the exit door of his hospital room.

On arriving outside Chuck's room, the nurse was waiting where she had stood to give the couple some privacy and she glanced at Sarah as she departed the room.

"Ma'am, you look exhausted. You should go somewhere to properly rest." The nurse said to Sarah in a concerned tone of voice worried about the well-being of this young woman who looked an absolute mess.

"I can't leave him. I left him once and that's why he is here now. I need to fix what I did to him. I owe him. And I need him. He is all that I have." Sarah replied dejectedly with her eyes still watery as she then moved to sit on a chair out in the hallway of the hospital before drowsily drifting back off to an uncomfortable sleep…

x-x-x-x-x-x-x

 **Military Hospital**

 **Baghdad**

 **Iraq**

 **3 November**

Sarah was presently sat inside the room that Chuck was recovering in. His hand was interlocked with her own. Sarah was in deep thoughts when she heard activity outside the room. Several moments later, Admiral Bartowski appeared at the doorway. Sarah immediately began to sit up to greet Chuck's father.

"Please don't get up Sarah." The Admiral replied hastily on seeing his son's soulmate attempt to stand up to greet him.

Sarah sat back down and glanced at the Admiral as she watched Chuck's father close the door to the room his son was recovering in before proceeding to walk towards his son and Sarah before he stopped close to the bedside to inspect the condition of his son for a long moment...

"How is he?" Admiral Bartowski asked eventually after a long moment of silence and reflection.

"His condition is still stable, Admiral." Sarah replied as she looked up to glance at the much older man.

"Please Sarah, you of all people do not need to call me Admiral, it's Stephen." Stephen says with a heart-felt and sincere tone to his son's soulmate.

Sarah smiled at him in response to what Chuck's father said.

"And how are you doing Sarah?" The Admiral asked somebody that meant so much to his son in a concerned tone of voice.

"I don't know." Sarah replied truthfully in a depressed tone of voice as the Admiral's words caused her to begin to feel emotional and she paused for a moment as she began to ask herself how she actually felt. "I don't know how I feel." Sarah repeated once more as she suddenly began to sob where she sat which broke the Admiral's heart on seeing her like this.

"I miss him. I miss him so much!" Sarah sobbed very emotionally as tears began streaming down her face as the Admiral was the first real person she'd spoken to in several weeks and she had been unable to vent to another conscious person.

Stephen immediately walked up to his son's soulmate and Sarah stood up and hugged into him as the Admiral comforted his son's girlfriend as she began to cry.

"He's a fighter Sarah. He will come back to you." Stephen said reassuringly to her.

"I should never have left him. He is here all because of my selfish actions. I'm so sorry for what I did to your family Stephen." Sarah continued to cry and sob into the arms of the love of her life's father.

"Sarah, you were serving your country and in return you sacrificed the love of your life. You should not be punished for that." The Admiral said emotionally as he paused from speaking and pulled back from the embrace to look at his son's girlfriend in the eyes "It is me that needs forgiveness Sarah, from you both." The Admiral paused again as his face began to well up and Sarah gazed distantly into his eyes while also experiencing her own distress as he spoke, "I knew you were CIA and had you ordered to break up with him after you had no choice but to kill that man in self defence. I knew you would then be posted many thousand miles away from him and I wanted him to have a relationship where his partner would be there for him after a stressful day and not be in Jakarta or Pakistan but now look where he is." Stephen said very emotionally to his son's lover.

"I don't think I would have been able to leave him." Sarah admitted truthfully in a depressed tone of voice as she sniffled her nose and tried to control her deep feeling of sorrow and anguish that she now felt.

"I know. And that is why I am here now to beg for your forgiveness for what I have done to you both. I'm so sorry Sarah." The Admiral said as he got to his knees to beg Sarah for forgiveness.

"Stephen, it's not your fault. If I was in your position I would have done the exact same thing that you did, you were protecting him, as a father should." Sarah stated teary eyed and sincerely and comfortingly before continuing further, "I was trying to protect him and keep him away from this horrible life of lies, deception and death too. He did not deserve this life." Sarah paused again to compose herself from her outburst of sorrow, before continuing once more, "The damage was already done when I didn't tell that recruiter where to stick it, everything that happened after that was inevitable. I couldn't bear the thought of him finding out that I was a killer, that I'd killed somebody, and I used the order I was given by Graham as an excuse to break up with him but the real reason why I broke up with him was that I couldn't bear the thought of seeing him look at me disgustingly like I was a piece of trash if I'd have told him I killed somebody." Sarah began to sob uncontrollably as her revelation effected her in the deepest corner of her heart and soul.

"Sarah, it was self defence, you had no choice. If you hadn't did what you did then you wouldn't be alive right now. Chuck would have understood that." Stephen said comfortingly as he continued to console his son's girlfriend in an embrace.

"It would have been better if I would have died Stephen. I wouldn't have hurt him then." Sarah stated as she continued to sob as her extremely guilty frame of mind continued.

"Oh Sarah… Please never, ever, ever say that!" The Admiral says soothingly to Sarah as he continues to comfort his son's soulmate and help her through her dire state of mind...

x-x-x-x-x-x-x

 **Military Hospital**

 **Baghdad**

 **Iraq**

 **4 November**

Sarah woke up today sat next to Chuck. Once the Admiral had left Sarah and his son yesterday, he had visited the chief medical officer of the hospital and managed to successfully persuade and convince him that Sarah be allowed to stay with his son. The Admiral told him that she was doing no harm and she just simply wanted to be around him. In fact, the medical officer after hearing of their story thought that it may even help Chuck's condition as some comatose patients do know what is happening around them and if they can feel the constant warmth of somebody so close to them it may help their condition to heal faster.

"Your dad visited you yesterday Chuck. If you heard him, please don't be hard on him. We both made mistakes and regrets and we did it to protect you from all of that pain and misery that comes with being a spy. He's also the reason I'm here right now. He convinced the chief medical officer that I be allowed to stay with you. So I may be a little biased, but I will be eternally grateful to your father for the rest of my life because of what he has done for me the past couple weeks in allowing me to see and now stay with you." Sarah paused from talking to Chuck for a moment to take hold of his hand.

"If I am able to ask only one thing of you Chuck, it's this: Please forgive him. He is as broken as I am, and we have lost so much already, we can't lose any more than we have already lost baby. I don't think that we can take any more hurt in our lives…"

x-x-x-x-x-x-x

 **Military Hospital**

 **Baghdad**

 **Iraq**

 **7 November**

Sarah was once more sat next to her sleeping soulmate as she continued to talk to him. "I had a dream about us last night baby… We were baking together." Sarah paused from talking to Chuck to emit a huge smile as she looked at her soulmate's face.

"Do you remember the last time we did that baby? It got messy, didn't it?" Sarah laughed, as she began to vividly recall one of many happy moments shared together with her lover...

 _Chuck and Sarah's Apartment_

 _Echo Park_

 _1999_

 _It was a lovely Saturday morning in California. Two young, passionate lovers were waking up in the arms of each other after a very intimate Friday Night after a stressful week of studies and work shared between the two of them._

" _Thank you for last night Sarah. I needed it." Chuck stated truthfully to his girlfriend as they played with each others messy bed hair while laying cozily in bed together._

 _Sarah laughed and smiled brightly at Chuck's words, before responding, "I know you did. You were so tense baby."_

 _Chuck laughed on hearing his girlfriend's response, "I know" he admitted before continuing, "Sarah, you have the touch of a goddess I have to admit. I feel like a new man reborn today." Chuck stated as he began to laugh and Sarah joined him in the action._

" _So do you baby. I feel the exact same, but without the man part!" Sarah stated laughingly as Chuck began to laugh at Sarah's joke with her._

 _"I'm not sure Sarah. I always thought you were a bit masculine and too hands on." Chuck then joked which earned him a playful slap from Sarah onto his chest and a wide grin from both of them._

" _I hope you know I don't just do what we did last night for anyone baby." Sarah replied jokingly with a wide grin as she gazed longingly into the eyes of her boyfriend._

" _I should hope not!" Chuck retorted immediately and slightly protective and jealously as he frowned his eyebrows, causing Sarah giggle._

" _You are the only man for me Charles Irving Bartowski. If I ever lost you, I would never look at another man ever again." Sarah stated with conviction to her boyfriend._

" _You will never lose me Sarah. I'm never going to leave you." Chuck replied powerfully to his girlfriend which caused a tear to appear in Sarah's eye as she touched his cheek affectionately with her hand._

" _I love you baby." Sarah declared powerfully as she touched his face affectionately._

" _And_ _I love you too buttercup." Chuck declared equally as powerful while also repeating her hand actions causing Sarah to giggle happily as she loves hearing endearments from her lover._

" _So, what should we do today? Can you think of anything you want to do?" Chuck asked his girlfriend as they began their weekend together._

" _Aside from you in this bed? I can't think of anything." Sarah replied and smirked in satisfaction on seeing her boyfriend's eyes widen._

" _Oh lord. I need at least some time to recover. You broke me last night." Chuck replied with a grin which caused Sarah to giggle happily on hearing his admission._

" _Fine, let's bake together. I seem to have quite an appetite. It must have been all of that passionate sex we just had baby." Sarah replied and finished laughingly as she began to giggle causing Chuck to grin before responding, "What a good idea!" he said as the two lovers then got up to start their day together..._

 _x-x-x-x-x-x-x_

 _Local Grocery Shopping Store_

" _Those strawberries look delicious baby." Sarah whispered to her boyfriend as they walked hand in hand along the supermarket as they stopped at the fruit while turning to face each other._

" _Not as delicious as you." Chuck stated truthfully which caused a huge smile to erupt on Sarah's face before he was unable to resist adding a further comment, "Though you would go well together!" Chuck joked causing Sarah to giggle wickedly on hearing his compliment and now his statement._

" _Oh Chuck Bartowski, being so forward!" Sarah whispers seductively to her boyfriend while she swats his arm cheekily._

" _Sorry, I have no control over my imagination." Chuck replies truthfully._

" _Don't ever apologize baby. You know I love it when you're sexually expressive with me. I'm getting them for that alone! And I think we know what we're doing tonight!" Sarah whispered back and giggled sweetly as she kissed him passionately for a brief moment, before continuing to reply in a humorous tone "So, do you have any other great sexual ideas while we're here baby?"_

 _Chuck's face went red in embarrassment causing Sarah to giggle in satisfaction._

" _You're the devil." Chuck stated to his girlfriend, not taking his eyes off of her once._

" _Only with you." Sarah replies, as the young lovers smile at each other, before Sarah takes her boyfriend's hand as they begin to queue to pay for their shopping items._

 _x-x-x-x-x-x-x_

 _Chuck and Sarah's Apartment_

 _Chuck and Sarah had been making cupcakes for a short while together now and they had just finished baking. "Mmm. That icing tastes delicious." Chuck states as he licks the icing from Sarah's finger that she had put into his mouth to taste._

 _Sarah smiled at him in response, before proceeding to stand on her tiptoes on her bare feet to kiss her boyfriend "Yes, it does." Sarah agreed after their lips parted, before adding further comment, "Or maybe that's just you that tastes delicious baby." She laughed._

" _This was fun." Chuck stated happily with his girlfriend infront of him in his arms as they faced each other._

" _Yes it was baby, but you know what could be more fun?" Sarah says cheekily as the lovers gaze affectionately into each others eyes._

" _What's that?" Chuck responds in a similar tone, not breaking eye contact with his angel once._

" _This." Sarah replied, before covering Chuck's face in flour that she had put into her hand behind Chuck's back while distracting him as she then began to laugh hysterically on seeing the aftermath of the action and then his reaction._

" _You're going to regret that Sarah." Chuck stated determinedly as he locked his eyes onto his girlfriend like a predator hunting its prey as they stood in their kitchen together._

" _Oh yeah?" Sarah replied as she continued to giggle hard on seeing her boyfriend's face now covered in flour._

" _Yes!" Chuck replied as he then immediately reached out to grab his girlfriend as she tried to unsuccessfully dart and avoid his grip but he caught her in his arms just in time._

" _Get off!" Sarah demanded as she laughed as the two lovers tussled with each other in their kitchen and Chuck dragged his girlfriend's body with one arm to a bag of flour that they had been using and he poured it all over her with his free hand before laughing hysterically at seeing Sarah covered from head to toe in flour._

"O _h, it's so on now!" Sarah stated determinedly as she surveyed herself and seen herself completely coated in flour._

" _D_ _on't give what you can't take." Chuck said with a huge smirk on his face._

 _"Oh I can take baby. I can assure you of that!" Sarah said as she began to eye up her boyfriend, before grabbing a load of icing in her hand that was resting idly where they had used it to make their cupcakes and she splattered it all over her boyfriend's face, causing his face to now be covered in both icing and flour, he looked like a cupcake himself now._

" _hahaha!" Sarah began to laugh uncontrollably in seeing the state of her boyfriend. "B_ _aby, you should see your face, you look like a cupcake yourself!" Sarah managed to say whilst bent over in laughter and her chest hurt from laughing so much, she had tears in her eyes._

"A _nd it's time for you to look the same Sarah!" Chuck stated as he also then grabbed a handful of the multi-coloured icing that they'd used to make their cupcakes._

 _"You'll never catch me!" Sarah laughed as she grabbed one of the bags of flour that they had used and another handful of icing as she ran off to their living room and Chuck gave chase with icing now in one hand and his own bag of flour in his other as they started throwing it everywhere at each other._

 _"Yes I will!" Chuck shouted back as he gave chase._

 _They were now in their living room together and Sarah made sure to put their sofa between herself and her lover._

"S _top running away you chicken!" Chuck demanded as he chased her in circles around the sofa as they flung flour and icing back and forth at each other._

" _I_ _thought you could catch me?" Sarah laughed as Chuck continued his chase of Sarah around their sofa as Sarah kept taking handfuls of flour from out of the flour bag to combine it with the icing and throw it at him as he chased her round and round in circles while Chuck was flinging icing at her from the huge pile he had in one hand and throwing flour at her from the flour bag in his other._

 _Eventually after about two minutes of going round and round they both began to get dizzy and Chuck decided a new tactic was in order to get to his girlfriend so he could cover her face in icing just as she had done him._

 _"I'll just jump over it and catch you that way. Then whatcha gonna do?" Chuck said eventually after beginning to become dizzy as attempted to climb over the sofa but fell over it and landed awkwardly and landed onto the floor of their living room with a great big thud causing Sarah to laugh uncontrollably at seeing her boyfriend land awkwardly on the floor._

 _"Ow!" Chuck cried out in pain from the hard landing causing Sarah's laughter to double as she continued flinging flour and icing at him as he lay awkwardly on the floor._

"S _arah, it's not funny I think I've busted my ankle!" Chuck cried out._

 _Sarah suddenly stopped laughing and eyed him warily incase he was tricking her to help him._

" _A_ _re you just saying that so I'll come close to you to help you?" Sarah asked worriedly as she quirked her eyebrow._

 _"No, look and see for yourself Sarah. It hurts like hell!" Chuck cried out._

 _"Baby, you had better not be tricking me or you'll regret it." Sarah warned as she began to edge closer to her boyfriend to help him._

 _"I'm not Sarah, it hurts like hell. Aaah!" Chuck yelped in pain._

 _Sarah had now joined him behind the sofa and she was now within grabbing distance and that's then Chuck struck and grabbed her and pulled and pinned her down to the floor as he lay over her._

 _"Haha, got you!" Chuck laughed into his girlfriend's face who he was now pinning to the floor._

 _"You big cheat! That's not fair!" Sarah moaned and complained in disgust to her boyfriend who now had her pinned to the floor._

 _"All is fair in love and war Sarah." Chuck replied, as he then tried to apply the icing in his hand to Sarah's face who was wriggling her head and body to desperately try and avoid the icing being applied to her face by her deceitful lying cheating boyfriend!_

 _"Now who's the cupcake?" Chuck laughed uncontrollably feeling immensely proud with himself with Sarah now covered in flour and icing too just like him. Their whole apartment looked a complete warzone and was covered in flour and multi-coloured icing just like their own bodies and face too as they were now both covered from head to toe in the stuff._

 _"This is going to be so messy to clean up." Chuck stated on surveying their living room and kitchen from where he was sat on his girlfriend and pinning her to the floor of their apartment._

 _Sarah arched her head behind her where she lay to survey the mess that they had made together._

 _"But so worth it!" Replied Sarah inbetween laughter._

 _Chuck grinned at his girlfriend as he continued to pin her, before looking if they had any flour and icing left but there didn't seem to be any left in their hands or their flour bags._

 _"Well Sarah, it would appear we are out of ammunition." Chuck stated with a wide grin because of how much fun they just had together._

 _"I'm never out of ammunition baby." Sarah stated seductively,_ _before she lifted her head up from where it previously lay on the floor to meet her lips with her boyfriend as she engaged in a passionate searing kiss with him as she then felt his hands loosen the grip on her own that were previously pinning her in place on the floor. Sarah instantly grabbed him when his hands loosened and reversed the submission and Chuck was now on the floor and she was now on top of him as they continued to passionately kiss each other._

" _I think we need a shower Sarah." Chuck stated with a grin as he surveyed Sarah who was now looking pink, blue, yellow and white which coincidentally, he also looked the exact same!_

" _After." Sarah whispered simply against his lips as the lovers quickly began to remove their items of clothing onto the floor of their living room._

 _"I hope Mom or Ellie or Awesome don't decide to walk in on us right now." Chuck grinned to his girlfriend which caused Sarah to smirk as Sarah nakedly straddled her now also naked boyfriend._

 _"That would be awkward." Sarah replied against his lips and smirked as she lowered and guided herself onto her boyfriend as the two cupcakes passionately made love to each other inside their home on the floor of their living room..._

 _x-x-x-x-x-x-x_

 **Present Time**

"Baby, I won that skirmish! And nothing you say will ever change that opinion, it's a fact!" Sarah paused to laugh deeply for a few seconds, before continuing, "You made me confess and admit defeat by teasing me in the shower and not giving me what I wanted and needed until I confessed, but I did it under duress so it would never stand in court!" Sarah paused to laugh again, before continuing to talk to her sleeping soulmate once more, "And I'm taking it all back right now and there's nothing you can do to stop me!" Sarah whispered and laughed in great satisfaction as she squeezed Chuck's hand affectionately...

x-x-x-x-x-x-x

 **Military Hospital**

 **Baghdad**

 **Iraq**

 **10 November**

Sarah was sitting next to her soulmate and was disturbed from her deep thoughts that she was having by the feeling of a twitch that she had just felt in her hand. Sarah instantly froze and paused everything that she was doing and completely cleared her brain of thoughts as she darted her eyes to the location of her hand. Her hand was interlocked with her soulmate's and she was sure that she hadn't made any hand movement whatsoever. And then she felt it again... It was Chuck's hand that was moving, not hers and Sarah instantly lost her breath, as many lumps immediately began to form in her throat. It could only mean one thing: He was coming back to her...

 **End of Chapter.**

Please Review, thank you! Did you like the baking fight? LOL! What did you like most about this chapter? There is quite a lot of talking topics.

Next Chapter: Redemption: Part Five. It's going to be an emotional one! So make sure you tune in!

A couple of quick notes about this chapter: Most injured troops in the Iraq and Afghan wars would go to Germany to recover. But I don't know what the situation would be for transporting comatose patients or special forces soldiers, so I've decided to keep Chuck in Iraq.

This story is purely a fictionalized world so please don't appear and lambaste me saying oh Sarah can't do that and stay with him in a military hospital this is against regulations etc. Fiction allows me to dip into the realms of fantasy and that is exactly what I'm doing to further the purpose of the story.


	31. Redemption: Part Five

Hello Chuck friends. Thank you for taking the time to read my story today. I hope that you enjoy today's chapter and a special thank you to everybody that chooses to leave me a review.

A couple more chapters of the Redemption segment to go. It will probably be an eight-parter. It will not be the story finale though, just the segment.

Time to get out your tissue boxes ladies and gents as this chapter is going to be an emotional reunion

* * *

 _Previously: Sarah was sitting next to her soulmate and was disturbed from her deep thoughts that she was having by the feeling of a twitch that she had just felt in her hand. Sarah instantly froze and paused everything that she was doing and completely cleared her brain of thoughts as she darted her eyes to the location of her hand. Her hand was interlocked with her soulmate's and she was sure that she hadn't made any hand movement whatsoever. And then she felt it again... It was Chuck's hand that was moving, not hers and Sarah instantly lost her breath, as many lumps immediately began to form in her throat. It could only mean one thing: He was coming back to her..._

* * *

 **Chapter Thirty One**

 **Redemption: Part Five**

 **Military Hospital**

 **Baghdad**

 **Iraq**

 **10 November**

A few moments after Sarah began to feel Chuck's hand moving, a nurse appeared at his doorway to the room he was recovering in.

"His hand just moved!" Sarah exclaimed to the nurse in extreme excitement as she began to fill up with enormous joy.

"We know. He is responsive on our monitoring devices and it's good news ma'am. His brain is recovering and he's becoming responsive again." The nurse revealed with a big smile on her face to her patient's lover.

Sarah smiled brightly at the nurse's disclosure.

"I know it's hard, but please keep yourself open to all possibilities and don't expect too much ma'am, as we don't know what his condition will be when he wakes up." The nurse warned Sarah in an attempt to limit her expectations and to not develop any false hope that his recovery would be a quick one. It's more than possible that he may make a full recovery, but it's also possible that he will not, and the nurse had to point that out to limit Sarah's expectations.

Sarah nodded her head in acceptance. "How long do you think it will be before he regains consciousness?" Sarah asked the nurse.

"A matter of days but he will only be conscious for a few minutes ma'am and he will likely be very confused, so don't panic when he does regain consciousness." The nurse reveals to Sarah.

"Ok, thanks." Sarah responded to the nurse with a bright smile on hearing that her soulmate is coming back to her after four painstakingly long weeks of extreme mental trauma and utter brokenness. The past four weeks have been the hardest period in Sarah's entire life and the only thing that has kept her going and stopped her from doing any kind of harm to herself was the thoughts and belief that he would come back to her, no matter how long it took, because the alternative was very dark and dire...

 _x-x-x-x-x-x-x_

 **Military Hospital**

 **Baghdad**

 **Iraq**

 **11 November**

 **Morning**

Sarah didn't sleep very well at all last night. Her mind was constantly racing all night and she was alert for any further response from Chuck after feeling his hand move for the first time in four weeks.

A caregiver for Chuck had just arrived inside his recovery room and the two women smiled at each other as they have done each morning for the entire time that Chuck has been at this hospital.

"Good morning ma'am." The nurse said to Sarah on arriving inside the room and looking at her patient's lover.

"Good morning." Sarah replied with a bright smile to the nurse. Still in an elated mood that she had felt Chuck's hand move against her own last night.

"It's time for his four-hourly exercises ma'am." The nurse informed Sarah as the nurse moved towards her patient to begin to exercise his body to keep it active.

"Ok." Sarah grinned in response as she has watched nurses exercise Chuck's comatose body all week long and found it a little humorous.

"Thank you for looking after him." Sarah says sincerely to today's nurse.

"It's our job ma'am." The nurse replies sincerely as she looks after her patient.

"Well thank you anyway." Sarah responds to the nurse.

"How did you two meet ma'am?" The nurse asks as she smiles at Sarah while exercising Chuck's body.

"We were college sweethearts. I fell in love with him the moment I saw him." Sarah responded with an almighty smile on her face as she fondly recalled the very first time that she met Chuck.

The nurse smiled in response before replying, "Love at first sight? I didn't think it existed." The nurse joked with a heart-felt tone of voice.

"I didn't think it did either until I met him." Sarah admitted as she paused to laugh with the nurse before continuing, "He was everything I wanted and more. He's perfect." Sarah stated as a radiant smile lit up her face as she shifted her glance between her soulmate's face, and the nurse looking after him.

"He is a lucky man to have somebody as devoted to him as you are ma'am." The nurse stated sincerely to Sarah.

"I have mistakes to make up for." Sarah admitted sadly as her facial expressions turned a little glum.

"Can I ask you something ma'am?" The nurse replied.

"Sure." Sarah responded to the nurse.

"Would you still be with him at his side right now if you didn't have those mistakes to make up for?" The nurse asked Sarah.

"Of course I would." Sarah admitted instantly in response to the nurse's question.

"Then you're devoted to him regardless of the mistakes. Those mistakes are irrelevant as you just admitted that you would still be here with him right now many thousands of miles away from your home even if you hadn't made those mistakes so you should not even take them into consideration, that is all in the past. You're a good person ma'am, and he's lucky to have you." The nurse stated sincerely to Sarah while smiling brightly at her patient's lover.

Sarah smiled brightly at the nurse in response, before responding, "Thank you." Sarah replied in a happy tone as she took the nurse's compliment.

 _x-x-x-x-x-x-x_

 **Military Hospital**

 **Baghdad**

 **Iraq**

 **11 November**

 **Evening**

Sarah was still with Chuck at his bedside and was reading through a magazine when she felt his hand move once more causing her face to erupt with a huge smile as all thoughts left Sarah's mind and were replaced with that of her soulmate instead.

"Keep fighting baby. I'm right here with you. We'll beat this together. I love you so much baby." Sarah stated powerfully with conviction as she affectionately squeezed his hand with her own.

 _x-x-x-x-x-x-x_

 **Military Hospital**

 **Baghdad**

 **Iraq**

 **13 November**

 **Morning**

Sarah had left Chuck's hospital room to use the bathroom and get something to eat and was just returning to his recovery room when she saw a nurse with him over his bedside. Sarah entered the room and the nurse glanced in her direction briefly.

"He's conscious ma'am." The nurse stated on glancing at Sarah and Sarah's eyes nearly flew out of their sockets as she raced to her soulmate's bedside to survey his condition.

"He's very confused and disorientated and can't speak ma'am so please don't be alarmed or distressed. This is normal." The nurse stated to Sarah on Sarah arriving at her side.

Sarah nodded her head as tears filled up in her eyes as she watched the love of her life with his eyes open for the first time in a month as he stared up at the ceiling spaced out with a completely confused and disorientated state of mind. A wave of emotions overtook Sarah on seeing him like this as she felt extreme relief, sadness, happiness, joy, worry and concern all into one with him being awake for the first time in a month.

"Oh, Chuck..." Sarah cried out emotionally as she watched her world in his total state of confusion as her emotions overtook her and she began to sob.

 _x-x-x-x-x-x-x_

 **Military Hospital**

 **Baghdad**

 **Iraq**

 **14 November**

 **Morning**

Sarah was in close proximity sitting next to Chuck as she felt movement in her hand. Sarah slowly stood up and seen her soulmate responsive once more as she watched his eye pupils move rapidly as they battled furiously to attempt to open. It took a few minutes and a nurse caring for him shortly after appeared and walked to his bedside with Sarah and himself.

"Commander, you're in hospital. Please don't be alarmed or panicked, we're looking after you. Your girlfriend is also at your side with you." The nurse stated soothingly to Chuck whose eyes were open but he was still spaced out and completely unable to register his situation as his confused state of mind continued.

Sarah took Chuck's hand affectionately with her own as she leaned over him.

"Can you talk, Commander?" The nurse asked Chuck soothingly.

No response came from Chuck as he became disorientated and became drowsy once more.

The nurse glanced at Sarah and smiled at her while Sarah had tears in her eyes.

"He's fighting it ma'am." The nurse stated to Sarah.

Sarah nodded her head. "I'm so proud of him," Sarah stated with a radiant sparkle on her face as her emotions flew out of her once more.

"Keep fighting baby. You're doing so well. I love you so much!" Sarah stated powerfully to her confused soulmate as she sniffled her nose as her voice does not register with him and he loses consciousness once more.

 _x-x-x-x-x-x-x_

 **Military Hospital**

 **Baghdad**

 **Iraq**

 **15 November**

 **Afternoon**

Sarah was still at Chuck's bedside as they continued his recovery together with him now conscious once more. A look of worry and confusion appears on Chuck's face with two people standing over him.

"Wh..." Chuck gasps out extremely weakly as he struggles to speak to the nurse standing over his bedside with him.

"You're in hospital Commander. You're in recovery. Please don't be alarmed or panic. Your girlfriend is also with you and we're taking care of you." The nurse states soothingly to her patient.

"I'm here baby." Sarah declares as she stands over him and squeezes his hand affectionately with her own as she feels the slightest of squeezes back in response as she looks at his face and sees his confused state of mind once more as Sarah has emotional tears of joy on her face on hearing him speak for the first time in more than a month.

 _x-x-x-x-x-x-x_

 **Military Hospital**

 **Baghdad**

 **Iraq**

 **16 November**

 **Afternoon**

"Good afternoon, Commander." The nurse states to Chuck as she stands over him on one side of his bed, with Sarah on the other side as she affectionately has hold of her soulmate's hand.

Chuck eventually with great difficulty manages to fix his glance onto the military nurse standing over him.

"You're in hospital Commander, in recovery. Please don't be alarmed or panic. Your girlfriend is with you and we are taking care of you." the nurse states soothingly to her patient.

Chuck slowly changes his glance to fix his eye pupils onto Sarah and tries his best to speak on seeing her standing over him. "Sa..." Chuck manages to say extremely weakly but is unable to say any more as he makes eye contact with Sarah and her eyes immediately become glossy as tears begin to fall freely down her face and she closes her eyes for an ever so brief moment to revel in the feeling as she sighs pleasurably as every single one of her heart-strings pull on hearing her soulmate trying to talk to her, before she replied to him in an extremely affectionate and loving tone that spoke in one thousand decibels, "I'm here baby. I'm right here with you. You don't need to say anything. Just focus on getting better. I will be right by your side for the rest of our lives. I love you." She finishes as she then wipes away her many tears from her face with her arm and watches her soulmate slip back off to an unconscious state as she moved her lips to affectionately kiss the back of his hand for a long moment.

 _x-x-x-x-x-x-x_

 **Military Hospital**

 **Baghdad**

 **Iraq**

 **17 November**

 **Morning**

Sarah and a nurse were once more standing over a recovering Chuck whose condition was improving more and more as the days went by as he began to remain conscious for several minutes longer each day.

Chuck was looking into Sarah's eyes, and he tried to speak as they gazed at each other, "I…" Chuck struggled to speak and paused as he fought desperately and tried to say the words that he was thinking, "lo...v..." Chuck had to stop as he had no further strength to speak and his face filled up with a strong despondence on being unable to talk.

Sarah smiled brighter than she ever has before in her life and tears came down her face once more as the nurse also smiled happily as her heart-strings pulled over witnessing the affection between her patient and his lover.

"I love you too baby. I love you more than words can even begin to tell you." Sarah states as she feels Chuck weakly squeeze her hand with his own and she moves her lips to kiss the back of his hand lovingly for a long moment before he eventually loses consciousness once more.

 _x-x-x-x-x-x-x_

 **Military Hospital**

 **Baghdad**

 **Iraq**

 **18 November**

 **Evening**

Each passing day Chuck's condition was improving more and more and he was becoming more responsive. A nurse had told Sarah that he may even be conscious for a few hours soon. He still had difficulty talking with his speech and moving his body though but he was not as confused on waking up as a week ago.

Sarah was disturbed awake by Chuck who let out a little moan of discomfort and it was enough to startle and wake Sarah. She immediately looked in the direction of his bed and Chuck had his arm out of his bed slightly and it was outstretched towards the direction where Sarah was resting. He was trying to reach and touch her and Sarah's heart and soul melted as she immediately stood up and closed the slight distance so his arm could reach and touch her. His hand landed and rested on Sarah's arm and Sarah beamed out the brightest smile that she had ever emitted in her whole life on feeling her soulmate affectionately touch her once more for the first time in more than five excruciatingly long weeks.

"Hi baby." Sarah greeted her boyfriend emotionally with tears streaming down her face as she smiled brightly while looking into her lover's eyes as he gazed right back at her.

Chuck tried to smile but had difficulty with moving his facial bones and muscles so he was ultimately unable to.

"I..." Chuck pauses for a long moment as he fights desperately hard to speak to Sarah, "lo...v..." He pauses again as he continues to fight extremely hard to speak to his soulmate, "y...ou." He finishes extremely weakly now feeling exhausted and out of energy because of how much effort he had just put into saying those words.

Every single time Chuck's condition shows signs of improving it causes Sarah to smile even brighter than the previous time he had made some kind of medical recovery, and this time was no different as she emitted the biggest possible affectionate smile as she gazes into her soulmate's eyes, not breaking the eye contact once on hearing her soulmate tell her he loves her.

"Oh, baby..." Sarah begins to break down as she begins to sob as Chuck looks into her eyes. It takes Sarah a long moment to compose herself before she's able to speak to him as hearing him say that had completely overwhelmed her.

"I love you too baby. I love you more than anything on this earth. I'm going to spend the rest of my life with you Chuck. And I will make you happy baby I promise." Sarah declares powerfully and emotionally as she leans towards him and affectionately kisses his lips for the first time in five weeks...

 **End of Chapter**

Next Chapter: Redemption: Part Six

Chuck continues his recovery and shares his first proper conversations with Sarah. Make sure you tune in. It's going to be just as emotional and heart-warming!

Please review, thank you. I think that the gradual process of Chuck recovering in this chapter is the right one. You don't wake up from a coma like you do in the movies. Let me know how I did as I really could use feedback on it. I hope I didn't make you guys use too many tissues :)


	32. Redemption: Part Six

Hello Chuck friends. Thank you for taking the time to read my story today. I hope that you enjoy today's chapter and a special thank you to everybody that chooses to leave me a review.

A/N 1: Updates have been slow because I have been watching the yearly Dota 2 International Tournament.

A/N 2: Oh, I'll also now have to use my T rated fictions to advertise my first ever M rated story seeing as though they are hidden behind a secondary search filter. So if NSFW stories are your thing, then please do check out that story. You can find it by going to my profile or just search in the mature story section itself. As long as you're not twelve that is, as I don't think I would be comfortable with young teens reading that particular story of mine. LOL!

Having said that, I'm considering making all of my stories mature rated including this one because I just don't enjoy typing up intimate scenes without describing every single detail that happens and the truth be told, I had so much fun writing my first ever M rated chapter and I want to do it again and again. I've never read many Chuck fictions myself. And ninety percent of the Chuck fictions that I have read were all mature rated. I think I have just one favorite T rated Chuck fiction. Which was Chuck vs the Inevitability of Life, which was sadly removed from the website :(

* * *

 ** **Chapter Thirty Two****

 ** **Redemption: Part Six****

 ** **Military Hospital****

 ** **Baghdad****

 ** **Iraq****

 ** **2**** ** **1**** ** **November****

Chuck was no longer in a confused state of mind when he woke up any more and because of that, he no longer needed a nurse present at his bedside on regaining consciousness. Chuck still needed real time care though as he was still immobilized as he continued his recovery from coming so close to dying and his subsequent comatose state which followed that lasted for a full month.

Right now, Chuck was conscious once more and he was looking right at Sarah.

"Hi." Chuck says weakly to Sarah as he greets her and he gives her an extremely weak smile as more and more of his muscles begin to become slightly responsive again and so he was able to do something as simple as being able to smile again once more.

"Hi, baby." Sarah greets him with a huge smile on her face whilst caressing his hand with her own that were locked together.

"I love you." Chuck declares in a quiet and still strained tone of voice as they burn a deep loving, affectionate gaze into each others eyes.

Sarah smiles brightly at him as she leans towards him to affectionately kiss him on his lips for a long moment before pulling back to speak and reply to his declaration, "And I love you to infinity." Sarah declares with a huge smile and Chuck grins weakly at her in response...

 **Military Hospital**

 **Baghdad**

 **Iraq**

 **23 November**

Sarah and Chuck were still inside his hospital room as he continues to recover from his grave injuries that came extremely close to costing him his life.

Today, Chuck was attempting to sit up in his hospital bed.

Sarah had been offering him encouragement for the last couple of minutes as Chuck tried desperately for several minutes but he was unable to lift himself and he had to now reluctantly give up and abandon his attempts as his face began to fill up with a strong despondence.

"Do you want me to help you?" Sarah asks her soulmate as she burns him a deep loving gaze into his eyes and smiles lovingly at him.

Chuck nods his head as his mind begins to feel extremely deflated and he now felt in very low spirits with himself.

"Don't worry, baby. Don't be dejected. I am so proud of you. You're doing so well." Sarah tells him reassuringly whilst moving her hand to caress his cheek.

On helping Chuck to sit up and lean back in his bed, Sarah hovers over him and moves her face to affectionately kiss his lips, and Chuck moves a hand to touch her cheek weakly. On breaking their tender loving kiss, Sarah beams her lover a radiant smile and Chuck smiles weakly at her, before then shifting back into his deflated state of mind once more because of his semi-vegetative state.

"I feel so useless." Chuck states dejectedly as he sulks to Sarah who was still hovering over him.

"You're not. Baby, you almost died. Don't feel deflated. You're showing more fight and resilience than anybody I've ever seen in my life and it's just going to take time." Sarah states reassuringly as she continues to give moral comforting support to her soulmate to help him through his ordeal.

 **Military Hospital**

 **Baghdad**

 **Iraq**

 **25 November**

Another day in the life of Chuck and Sarah as Sarah helped her soulmate through his recovery.

Chuck had managed to sit himself up in his hospital bed today on his own and Sarah has a sparkle in her eyes as she felt immensely proud in him, and proceeded to tell him so, "I'm so proud of you."

"Sarah, I only managed to sit up. What good is that?" Chuck says frustrated and Sarah lowers her gaze to the floor in sadness on hearing what he said.

"I can't even use the bathroom or wash myself." Chuck says in anger as he feels so dependant and helpless.

"Baby, please don't do this to yourself." Sarah implores and pleads with her soulmate as her facial expressions begin to show her starting to get upset.

Chuck looks at Sarah and sees her spirits lower and her face becomes deflated over him berating himself.

"Did the Chief tell you, by the way?" Chuck asks curiously.

"Huh?" Sarah asks as they look into the eyes of each other again once more.

"I told the Chief to tell you I loved you when I thought I was dying."

Sarah laughed for a brief second, "No, he didn't tell me."

"I'll kill him." Chuck says as he shakes his head disapprovingly. "He told me to tell you myself, so I will." Chuck pauses as they continued to look into the eyes of each other. "I love you, Sarah." Chuck declares powerfully as he looks at her.

Sarah smiles brightly on hearing his declaration as she then leans towards him where he was sitting back and she moves to kiss him tenderly on his lips.

On breaking the kiss, Sarah spoke to him as she looked into his eyes, "I love you too baby. Please keep fighting and stay positive for me. Ok?" Sarah pleads with him as she looks into his eyes with a deep pleading gaze as she strokes his cheek affectionately.

"Ok." Chuck agrees as he nods his head acceptingly which causes Sarah to smile radiantly.

 **Military Hospital**

 **Baghdad**

 **Iraq**

 **26 November**

Today, Chuck was sitting up in his hospital bed once more as he chatted away with Sarah. Chuck's speech was fully recovered but not much else. He was still bedridden.

"Sweetheart, you look like hell." Chuck declares with a weak smile as he feels deeply concerned as to the health and the wellbeing of the woman that he adores.

"I'm fine." Sarah replies assuringly as she smiles at him and they look into each others eyes.

"Sarah, you're not fine." Chuck states in a concerned tone of voice to her.

"I need to fix what I did to you, Chuck. I'm so sorry, baby. I did this to you." Sarah replies shamefully as the soulmates burn a deep intimate gaze with each other before Sarah averts her eyes away from him because of the shame she felt with herself.

"Sarah, stop talking silly!" Chuck commands her powerfully as he scolds her before continuing further, "If I wasn't so immobilized right now then I would be out of this bed right now and I would be shaking the living hell out of you and warning you never to say anything so disgusting like that ever again! I don't know how many times I need to say and tell that you are not to blame for me joining the Navy!" Chuck says sincerely to her.

"I am." Sarah argues back as she lowers her head in shame unable to make eye contact with him.

"No, you're not! And I wont allow you or anybody else to talk like that about the woman that I love!" Chuck replies powerfully but Sarah continues to mope her head and is unable to look at him in shame.

"Sarah Lisa Walker, look into my eyes!" Chuck demands commandingly and he pauses until Sarah lifts her head back up and makes eye contact with him again, "You are not to blame! I am. Nobody else. Just me. I made the biggest mistake of my life signing up in the Navy, just like you did when you joined the CIA, we both made mistakes but that is your only one. I have one more year left Sarah, and I can't wait until my time is up because once it is, then I am out on the very same day!" Chuck tells her with absolute conviction attached to his words.

Sarah smiles brightly at him on hearing his revelation to her.

"Did you hear me?" Sarah asks as she continues to smile at Chuck.

"Huh?" Chuck replies confusedly.

"When you were at ICU, I said the exact same thing to you. I told you I wanted to leave the CIA." Sarah reveals to Chuck.

"Really?"

"Yeah." Sarah laughs as the two soulmates smile brightly at each other.

"I heard you speaking. But I can't remember anything whatsoever. It was strange. It was like I heard you talking but I couldn't make any sense of what you were saying. I guess I was too weak to process the information."

"Can't we just leave now?" Sarah asks him sadly.

"Sarah, honey, I'm tied into my job unfortunately. I can't just leave. I have an eight-year commitment and I have just over a year left to serve. I know that you can resign on the spot in the CIA so I don't expect you to wait for me if it's too much pain and too much burden for you to wait for me that long." Chuck says sincerely to her.

"I'll wait for you." Sarah responds instantly with absolute conviction as she pauses to beam him a bright smile, "I'm never leaving you ever again, Chuck. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I want to start that business we were going to start after Stanford. I want to start a family with you." Sarah reveals to him as she continues to burn Chuck a deep loving smile, which Chuck returned upon hearing her revelations to him.

"Sarah, I want all of that too. And I'm going to spend the rest of my life with you too." Chuck states with conviction as the two soulmates continue their deep intimate stares of affection with each other.

Chuck breaks the brief silence by speaking to Sarah again, "I love you, Sarah. Always have, always will." Chuck declares to her as Sarah beams out an enormous grin of satisfaction and contentment.

"I love you too." Sarah responds as they then move their heads to close the distance between themselves as they kiss each other tenderly for a long moment of intimacy...

 **Military Hospital**

 **Baghdad**

 **Iraq**

 **28 November**

"Sarah, I want you to do something for me." Chuck says to Sarah as the soulmates look into each others eyes.

"Anything, Chuck." Sarah responds instantly.

"I want you to return to our base and properly rest, Sarah."

"Chuck, I'm okay." Sarah replies while smiling at him.

"Sarah, you're not ok. You look like you haven't slept for a month. If I would have known how much you've been tearing yourself up I would have woken up much sooner!" Chuck replies in a very concerned tone of voice to her.

"Chuck, I'll be fine." Replies Sarah, unwilling to leave his side.

"Sarah, honey, you've spent the past six years hating yourself and I will NOT allow it to continue for a moment longer. Not if I have anything to say about it, and I'm saying right now. You look an absolute mess. Sarah, I love you and I care about you more than anybody else on this earth and one day you will be the mother of my children and I can not bear to see you in this state of disarray. I want you to go and rest. " Chuck demands as he looks at her with a stern look.

"I don't want to." Sarah replies as she shakes her head no.

"Sarah, I don't care what you want concerning this matter. If I have to, then I will call and order my caregivers right now to remove your access to me. I'm still a Military Commander and you have no rank here. So it's really up to you. You can either leave voluntarily and go and rest properly, or I'll have you ordered away from me so that you have no choice but to." Chuck says in a tone leaving absolutely no room for negotiation as he also gives her another stern look.

"You wouldn't." Sarah replies as she weighs up her options.

"Do you want to try me?" Chuck replies as he stares into her eyes with his stern look still present on his face.

Chuck continued on, "Sarah, I'm fine now. I'm no longer in danger. I'm recovering day by day and you don't need to be at my side twenty-four seven. Granted, it's not safe to move around Baghdad constantly but I'm not telling you to do that because I would never put you in danger. I just want you to go and take a few days to rest properly on base, and then come back to me. I'll still be right here, I'm going no-where."

Sarah took a moment to consider what Chuck had said to her. He also still had a stern look on his face which told her that there would be no way that she could negotiate her way out of not leaving him.

"Fine. But only a few days and then I'm coming right back to you." Sarah replied reluctantly.

Chuck suddenly let out the biggest smile he had emitted in more than six weeks on hearing Sarah finally conceding to going to rest herself up.

"Thank you, Sarah." Chuck replied happily to her.

 **FOB Midnight**

 **Baghdad**

 **Iraq**

 **29 November**

Sarah was now back at the base that Chuck and Sarah were situated at. Sarah had reluctantly left Chuck the previous evening and as soon as she got back onto their base she passed out inside her quarters in exhaustion. She had also now freshened up and had showered and she did feel rejuvenated but she misses Chuck excruciatingly.

Sarah was now at the mess hall on base and was eating when Morgan joined her.

"Hey, Sarah." Morgan says as joins her to sit with her.

"Hi, Morgan." Sarah replies as she smiles at Chuck's best friend.

"How is Chuck since I last got to visit him?" Morgan asks his best friend's soulmate.

"He has full speech again and can move around slightly." Sarah reveals happily to Morgan.

"That's great news! I told you he would come back to us, Sarah." Morgan says with a chuckle and huge grin to Sarah.

"Yes, you did." Sarah replied as she smiles happily at him.

"The nurses think he will be walking again in a matter of weeks and he should be able to discharge in less than a month." Sarah revealed to Chuck's best friend as she provided him with more information.

"Our Chuck is a fighter." Morgan boasts proudly.

"Yes, he is." Sarah replies happily.

"He wants to leave the Navy." Sarah informs Morgan as the two young adults engage in conversation.

"I'll miss him but its the right thing. I want you two to be happy together. You deserve happiness after everything that has happened to you both." Morgan says sincerely to her.

"Thank you." Sarah replies as she smiles at him once more.

"If you two aren't married with children in the next five years then I'll have to kick his ass into shape for you with the rest of the guys." Morgan jokes to her and Sarah laughs deeply in response.

"What about you? What are your plans Morgan?" Sarah asks him sincerely.

"Sarah, I love the Navy. I plan to be in it for as long as I can. I kind of joined for a reason similar to you and Chuck. My girlfriend left me for another man and instead of being broken, I turned into somebody else. This life is perfect for me." Morgan declares truthfully to Sarah.

"What if you get killed?" Sarah asks him sincerely.

"Sarah, all death is certain. It's just a matter of when. We are only human and sadly we have a life-span of about seventy years. If I die tomorrow, at least I will have lived a perfect life. I have lots of great buddies and I get to play with guns." Morgan replied as he smiled at her.

Sarah laughed in response.

"If you're happy then I guess that's all that matters." Sarah replies, though she would be deeply saddened and hurt if anything ever were to happen to Morgan. She considers him as somebody very close to her.

"I have to go now Sarah, I have duties to attend to." Morgan says and Sarah nods her head at him in acceptance.

"Tell Chuck that everyone is thinking of him and wishing him well in his recovery and also tell him I love him and I can't wait until he's back with us, ok?"

"Ok, Morgan." Sarah replies as she smiles warmly at him, before Morgan then departs to leave Sarah alone once more…

 **End Of Chapter**

 **As always, please review! Thank you!**

 **A/** **N** **I'm** **SO** **GLAD that** **somebody** **has** **finally put Sarah in her place!** **She had** **been blaming herself for five weeks** **for everything happened to Chuck. S** **illy woman!** **How could she ever think and believe that Chuck would allow her to blame herself when he'd already told her numerous times that he and he alone was to blame for his decision to sign up to join the Navy.**

 **Next Chapter: Redemption Part Seven. It will be Chuck's last chapter in hospital before he is discharged.**


	33. Redemption: Part Seven

Hello Chuck friends. Thank you for taking the time to read my story today. I hope that you enjoy today's chapter and a special thank you to everybody that chooses to leave me a review.

Word count for this chapter: 4650

* * *

 **Chapter Thirty Three**

 **Redemption: Part Seven**

 **1 December**

Sarah has just safely returned back to the hospital that Chuck is recovering in after a few days of being away from his side and she feels like a completely new woman again after three full days of rest and hopefully Chuck would be discharged from hospital in the coming weeks so that they can get on with and resume their lives again with some normalcy once more. Well, that is if you can consider being in a constant state of danger and anxiety and facing the constant worry of being killed twenty four seven to be normal that is... Sarah quite simply can not wait until Chuck's final year of service in the Navy is up. In recent days, Sarah has been picturing the ecstatic look on both Chuck and her own face on the day that Chuck leaves the Navy and they then begin the rest of their lives together with no more guns, no more insurgents and no more killing. Instead, it will just be just her and him together, with a few of their children and hopefully they will be a right balance of boys and girls so that it's not three boys and a girl as the family live in their dream home with the white picket fence with no more worries, no more anxiety, no more dread, just happiness from being and living together as the family they had always wanted to be.

Sarah spends the next few minutes walking along the hospital halls until arriving outside of the room that Chuck is recovering in. Once outside of his room, Sarah then takes a few moments pause before entering his room to compose herself as she can see Chuck out of his bed and sitting in a chair inside of his hospital room and Sarah fills up with immense pride and adoration on yet another sign of Chuck recovering back to full condition again once more.

Sarah after her few moments of reflection and pause then entered into Chuck's room and Chuck immediately glanced in her direction on her entering the room as the two soulmates burn a deep intimate gaze into the eyes of each other after being apart for a few days that felt like years to both of the young couple as they missed each other excruciatingly.

"Hiya." Sarah greets Chuck lovingly whilst also radiantly smiling at him.

"Hi, yourself." Chuck replies as he returns the warm, adoring smile to her in kind.

Sarah could see no nurse present so she walks straight over to where Chuck is seated and she leans down to his frame and affectionately hugs him and she immediately then feels his arms strengthen and wrap around her waist from where he is seated to reciprocate the deep, warm embrace with her.

"I missed this." Sarah admits as she continues to bury herself into his warmth.

"Me too." Chuck agrees as he returns the same actions as Sarah.

The young couple stay locked in the warm, loving embrace with each other for a long moment before Sarah reluctantly pulls back from his warmth so that she can look into his eyes as they then begin to talk to each other.

"Sarah, you look as good as new." Chuck declares happily to her with a huge smile present on his face and Sarah returns the smile to Chuck.

"Thank you. Chuck, you were right. I needed the rest." Sarah declares as she then pauses to laugh and Chuck grins at her before Sarah added further comment, "I missed you so painstakingly much though." Sarah declares as she smiles deeply at him.

"I missed you too." Chuck replies whilst also returning the smile to her.

"And you're out of bed. That's great!" Sarah states very enthusiastically to him.

"With difficulty and with some help. But I should be walking again very soon and then I'll be free to discharge." Chuck reveals happily to Sarah.

"Baby, that's great." Sarah says passionately as she smiles deeply at him.

"I wish I was there to see you sit up." Sarah states sadly as she smiles weakly at him and begins to sulk over missing another step of his recovery.

"Sarah, you've already done more than enough for me. The past seven weeks you have done far more for me than anybody ever has in my whole life and I will never forget what you have done whilst I have been wounded and fighting for my life." Chuck speaks passionately to his girlfriend with his words coming from the deepest corner of his heart as he gets slightly emotional with the woman he adores.

"Chuck, I only did what any girlfriend would do." Sarah replies dismissively as she doesn't take his praise offered to her.

Chuck shakes his head in complete disagreement as the lovers look at each other with a deep affinity towards each other. "No, that's not true Sarah and you know it." Chuck pauses as they continue to exchange deep, intimate eye contact. "Sarah, stop selling yourself short. As soon as I get out of here I'm going to make it up to you for what I've had to put you through for the past seven weeks." Chuck declares with conviction to Sarah.

"It's okay." Sarah replies as she smiles warmly at him.

"No, it's not. I should have took the shot Sarah. He was carrying a gun and I knew the rules of engagement but I just couldn't do it." Chuck pauses as he sighs deeply aloud before continuing again, "I hesitated and I panicked and I almost died because of it. I was selfish and I didn't want to deal with the demons that would have haunted me if I'd have gunned down a young boy but what about you and mum and dad and Ellie?" Chuck states very dejectedly to the woman he wants to spend the rest of his life with.

"Chuck, he was just a boy." Sarah says comfortingly whilst smiling warmly at her lover as she completely understood why he was unable to gun down a young boy as Sarah most likely wouldn't be able to do it either. Sarah would never know for sure if she was capable of shooting a young boy holding an assault rifle unless she was ever put in that same situation that Chuck had been put in inside that apartment complex in Fallujah nearly two months ago.

"I know... God Sarah, this world is so messed up." Chuck pauses as he sighs deeply again once more and holds his head in his hands as he experiences a deep feeling of misery and sorrow. "I don't know how much longer I can do this before I implode, Sarah. I feel sick and dead inside." Chuck responds dejectedly to his soulmate as a tear leaves his eye and floats down his cheek as he confides in her for her help and her comfort as they continue to burn a deep intimate gaze into the eyes of each other.

Sarah wipes her soulmate's cheek with her hands and she feels her own eyes glossy as this is the first real time that Chuck has opened himself up to her about the inner battle that he has been fighting with himself for all of those years that he's been in the Navy. "Baby, we'll come through it together. I will help you. It's just one more year Chuck and then we're gone for good and we will never look back. We'll have lots of children and they'll all be beautiful inside just like their father and we'll buy our dream home, if you can still remember it." Sarah says comforting and reassuringly and laughed warmly as she finished speaking to him as they continue to burn a deep, intimate stare into the eyes of each other.

"Who do you think you're dealing with Sarah? Of course I remember it." Chuck replies with a huge grin on his face and Sarah giggles sweetly in response.

"You did forget one extremely important detail in that plan of yours, though." Chuck adds in further comment and waits for Sarah to inquire about it.

"What's that?" Sarah inquires sweetly as they continue their loving gaze.

"They will be just as beautiful inside if not more just like their mother because that's exactly what you are. You are beautiful." Chuck declared powerfully and Sarah emits a humongous smile in response before moving into his proximity again once more as the young lovers connected their lips together in a deep, affectionate, tender loving kiss…

* * *

 **3 December**

Chuck is now about to take his first steps in more than seven weeks of being bedridden and immobile. Chuck had sat up out of bed and is presently holding onto a walking frame for balance and grip and both Sarah and a Military Nurse responsible for his care were offering their encouragement to him as they stood either side of him.

"Baby, you can do it." Sarah states encouragingly as she looks into his eyes and he smiles warmly at her before she averts her glance back down to his midriff and below as she watches his feet intently as Chuck takes his first step in nearly two months of being immobilized as he puts his right foot forward infront of him, quickly followed by a second step with his left food and then a third step with his right.

On walking for the first time in two months, Chuck's face immediately fills up with deep relief and immense joy as he laughs deeply whilst shaking his head sideways in great satisfaction as he glances at the nurse to the side of him for a brief moment and they smile at each other before he fixes his glance to the opposite side of him and stares deeply into the eyes of Sarah who is so happy she could scream with joy and she has a sparkle in her eyes. The two lovers continue their deep intimate gaze in intense silence until they are interrupted by the nurse caring for Chuck.

"Well done, Commander." The nurse addresses Chuck with a smile still on her face.

"Thank you." Chuck responds very warmly to the nurse looking after him whilst also smiling feeling in deep euphoria.

"I told you that you could do it." Sarah states joyfully as they look into the eyes of each other again with smiles on their faces that shine as bright as diamonds.

"Yes, you did." Chuck agrees as they continue to intimately look into each others eyes.

"You're amazing." Sarah states powerfully to him as their position and stance continues to remain unchanged.

"I love you so much, Sarah." Chuck declares passionately causing Sarah's smile to glow even brighter on hearing her lover's declaration to her as the nurse stands joyfully and witnesses the intimacy between two smitten lovers...

* * *

 **5 December**

Chuck had just finished walking inside his hospital room again once more and he had now just moved to sit back down again.

"Well, Commander, that's officially the end of my shift." The nurse caring for Chuck states to him.

"Thank you for the help today." Chuck states warmly to the nurse and Sarah also smiles warmly at the nurse.

"No problem at all, Commander. You should be free to discharge in about ten days to continue your recovery stateside to regain your shape and fitness. Have a good night." The nurse says as she smiles at Chuck and Sarah.

The young couple then both reply with a similar reply before the nurse departs to leave them alone together.

On the nurse departing the room, Chuck and Sarah begin to talk to each other.

"How was I?" Chuck asks Sarah as they stare intimately at each other.

"You were amazing," Sarah replies as she moves to hug him for a long moment before they adjust their heads to connect their lips together in a slow, loving kiss.

On separating their lips they then touch their foreheads together.

"How long will you be stateside before deploying to active duty again?" Sarah inquires.

"It's usually about four weeks but it could be longer." Chuck reveals to Sarah.

"Where will you go?" Sarah asks inquisitively.

"Back home to Los Angeles. I'm hoping you will come with me?" Chuck asks her with a smile.

"If you want me to." Sarah replies as they continue to burn an affectionate, warm gaze at each other.

"Sarah, there is nobody else I want to be with. I want to be with you for every living moment for the rest of my life." Chuck declares powerfully to her.

Sarah smiles brightly at his response before replying,"Ok." She agrees cheerfully.

"Great!" Chuck says happily as he grins at her before the young lovers move to kiss each others lips again once more.

On breaking the kiss, they continue to talk to each other again.

"Sarah, Morgan and the rest of the guys better not think it's ok for them to slack whilst I'm away." Chuck laughs to Sarah.

Sarah laughs briefly, before responding, "One fight at a time, baby. Let's worry about you and only you for now."

"Ok." Chuck laughed and Sarah giggled sweetly...

* * *

 **8 December**

Sarah and Chuck were still inside of Chuck's hospital room with exactly one week to go until Chuck can discharge from hospital when suddenly, an almighty explosion echoed throughout the room that seemed to rock the whole hospital.

"Holy heck! That was powerful!" Chuck exclaimed as he felt the shockwave from the bomb that had just exploded.

Sarah jumped out of her skin on hearing and feeling the explosion and she began to get extremely anxious and nervous and looked to Chuck for help.

"Baby, what's happening?" Sarah asks her battle hardened Navy SEAL lover for guidance.

"Felt like an extremely powerful IED." Chuck reveals anxiously to Sarah.

"I hope everybody is ok." Sarah states worriedly.

"It was probably at the security checkpoint at the entrance. There's no way they could have gotten inside." Chuck reveals reassuringly to Sarah as the young couple then begin to hear concentrated gunfire.

"What should we do?" Sarah anxiously asks Chuck.

"There's nothing we can do. We can only think and pray for the Marines now in combat." Chuck states to Sarah as the young lovers make deep eye contact with each other.

"I love you." Chuck declares powerfully to Sarah just incase for some reason he didn't get another chance to say it to her.

"I love you too." Sarah replies equally as powerful to him as the young couple remained stationary for the next few minutes as they heard a battle take place in their immediate vicinity.

A nurse arrived at the door to Chuck's hospital room after about ten minutes and the gunfire had begun to die down.

"Commander, Marines have engaged a vehicle that then exploded at the security checkpoint to the hospital." The nurse informed Chuck and Sarah and Chuck nodded his head.

"Any secondary attackers?" Chuck asks as he inquires for further information.

"It appears that way. The situation seems to be under control though. I have to leave now to inform the remaining patients." The nurse replies to Chuck.

"Ok." Chuck replies and nods his head and the nurse then departs the room.

"Don't panic, Sarah, everything will be fine." Chuck says reassuringly to his soulmate.

Sarah smiles weakly at Chuck.

"Come here." Chuck demands with a smile and Sarah immediately moves to his vicinity as the young lovers affectionately embrace into each other until the battle sounds completely die down and the calm silent, peaceful air returns again once more...

* * *

 **9 December**

Chuck and Sarah were presently inside of Chuck's hospital room and they were stood stationary together inside an embrace with each other. Chuck was not one hundred percent comfortable standing on his feet just yet and so Sarah held firm hold of her lover as his own arms were locked in place around Sarah's waist.

"I have to tell you something very important today, Chuck. I decided to wait until you were pretty much fully recovered before talking to you about it because I didn't want it to have a negative impact on your recovery." Sarah says to Chuck as they lock their eyes with each other whilst inside the embrace.

"Ok." Chuck says as he nodded his head. "What do you want to talk about, Sarah?" Chuck asks and smiles deeply at her, to which Sarah smiles weakly in response.

"It's about your dad, Chuck." Sarah says as she begins to get nervous over what Chuck's reaction will be to what she needs to tell him.

"Ok." Chuck says as he encourages her to continue.

"When you were still comatose, he came to visit you and he said some things to me." Sarah reveals to Chuck as she pauses again as she feels very uncomfortable with this particular conversation that is needed with her lover.

"Things like what?" Chuck inquires to her as they continue to make eye contact until Sarah occasionally averts her glance away from him in anxiousness.

"About us, Chuck. I didn't want to tell you because I wanted the past to be the past and just start fresh but I can't lie to you. If you ever found out about it some other way then it would be bad on our relationship and on our commitment to each other." Sarah admits truthfully to him.

"Sarah, you can tell me. You can tell me anything." Chuck reassuringly responds to her.

"Chuck, you need to promise me that you wont let it distract or play on your mind. I could not bear or live with myself if it got you distracted and killed because it distracted you so much." Sarah admits very anxiously to him.

"Sarah please, I need to know. If it's about my dad then I think I have the right to know what he said." Chuck implores his lover as he begins to get anxious and nervous himself as to what Sarah would say to him.

"Chuck, you're right. I just don't want to see you hurt any more than you already have been." Sarah admits truthfully as they continue to burn a deep gaze into the eyes of each other.

"Sarah, I'm fine." Chuck responds reassuringly to her.

"Chuck... when I was ordered to break up with you." Sarah nervously pauses briefly again.

"Yeah?" Chuck encourages her to continue once more.

"It was your father that gave Director Graham that order." Sarah reveals in a sad tone of voice to her lover.

"WHAT?!" Chuck snaps loudly as he moves one hand away from Sarah's waist and he pounds his fist into a waiting table opposite him in an absolute rage.

Sarah jumps out of her skin on seeing her soulmate's rage.

"Chuck, please! You promised me!" Sarah implores her lover to cool down on seeing him work himself up into a state.

"Sarah, I can't help it. I'm sorry!" Chuck responds truthfully as his whole mind and body fills up with rage on finding out that he had been deceived by his father.

"So you're telling me that the only reason we broke up was because my father ordered it?" Chuck asks as he pauses until Sarah nods her head at him in response. "I'll kill him! All those years I blamed you when it was him!" Chuck fumes in anger as every part of his body feels angry and tense.

"Chuck, he is as broken as I am. Please forgive him, like you forgave me." Sarah begs and pleads her lover as she comfortingly strokes his frame with her hands to try and cool down his temper.

"He had no right to do what he did!" Chuck shouts loudly to Sarah, his body still feeling extremely tense, his mind angry.

"Chuck, baby, it's the past. It was nearly seven years ago." Sarah says very meekly to him as she continues to try and cool her soulmate down.

"I'm sorry Sarah, but I can't forgive him on this. Me and him are finished." Chuck declares with conviction to her.

"Chuck, please." Sarah pleads with him and pauses as she puts both of her hands to wrap around his neck. "Baby, I owe your father so much for what he has done for both me and you in the weeks since you got shot. I will be eternally grateful to him for the rest of my life." Sarah declares emotionally as she gets upset on hearing Chuck say that he never wants to speak to his father again.

"Can't you take that into consideration, for me?" Sarah continues to plead with him as she looks into his eyes with deep, pleading facial expressions.

"Sarah, it still doesn't make it ok what he did." Chuck replies truthfully as he dismissively shakes his head sideways.

"Chuck, please, for me. Sarah begs him as she hugs herself into her lover once more.

"Sarah, if you hadn't have been given that excuse to break up with me, would you have broken up with me?" Chuck asks as he gently pushes Sarah back slightly so he can look into her eyes as she responds to him.

"No. I would have told you the truth. I would have told you that I was CIA and I wouldn't have accepted my overseas posting to Istanbul and I'd have probably quit the CIA to stay with you." Sarah declares truthfully as they continue to stare into each others eyes.

Chuck suddenly tensed his body into Sarah's embrace on hearing Sarah's revelation and he began to get angry again once more, "Then he is to blame for why we broke up! All those years I blamed you! Sarah, I'm so sorry!" Chuck says as he moves his hands up to Sarah's face to rest on her cheeks as he apologizes to her.

"Chuck, please forgive him. I couldn't bear it if you stopped talking to him. It would hurt me knowing I caused it by telling you this." Sarah says sadly to him as her eyes begin to gloss.

"No Sarah, you're wrong. You didn't cause this. He did by deceiving us both and doing what he had done to us both. Sarah, I need time to think this through. At this exact moment right now, I never want to speak to him ever again." Chuck admits truthfully to Sarah and Sarah averts her eyes from looking at his face as she hangs her head down in sorrow on hearing her lover's revelation to her.

"Chuck, please don't tell your mum or Ellie what he did to us." Sarah pleads with him once more with a sad, depressive look on her face.

"Sarah, they deserve to know the truth. I can't promise anything. Right now I am absolutely livid." Chuck admits truthfully to Sarah and she hangs her head down to the floor again in sadness whilst remaining locked inside the embrace with her lover…

* * *

 **15 December**

After two long torturous and painful months for both Sarah and Chuck in where Chuck had almost lost his life and Sarah's severe emotional trauma that followed it, Chuck was finally now all clear for discharge from the hospital that he had been at.

Three nurses who had been looking after him during his time here had all gathered to say their goodbyes to their patient and to his lover.

Chuck and Sarah each took turns in thanking the three nurses individually who had helped to nurse Chuck back to health again once more.

"We hope that you two live happily ever after together." One nurse says to Sarah and Chuck as deep loving smiles are exchanged between the five adults gathered inside the room that Chuck had recovered in

"Thank you." Chuck says as he smiles brightly at them.

"We will." Sarah declares as she rotates her glance between Chuck and the three nurses as she smiles brightly at all four of them.

The three military nurses then departed, leaving Chuck and Sarah to spend their last moments inside of the hospital room that they had spent the past six weeks of their life inside of.

"So this is it." Sarah says apprehensively on being moments away from walking out of the hospital together with Chuck to begin their lives again. Sarah would be a liar if she said that the upcoming months and Chuck's final year in the Navy would be easy. They wouldn't. There would still be challenges at every turn, but they would come through them together and it would only make them stronger.

"Yup." Chuck replies in the same tone of voice as Sarah.

"Are you ready to go?" Chuck asks as he looks at Sarah.

"Yes." Sarah states happily.

"Sarah, are you sure about coming with me to LA?" Chuck asks.

"Of course. Why? Don't you want me to?" Sarah asks.

"Sarah, I do. I'm just worried about your job. You've already been off work for two months." Chuck replies warmly to his girlfriend, lover, soulmate.

"Chuck, I had a lot of leave because I didn't take a single holiday in all the years that I had been in the CIA. I buried myself in my work to cope with being without you." Sarah reveals and pauses as they smile deeply at each other before she continues again, "I told Graham in no uncertain terms that I wouldn't return to work until you did, and I'm sticking to it." Sarah declared with conviction and smiled deeply at Chuck, who grinned in response.

"Let's go and begin the rest of our lives together then." Chuck says happily, as he takes Sarah's hand and they depart the hospital to await a protected convoy to take them back to their base of operations so they can collect their things before departing for a transport aircraft to take them to Los Angeles so that Chuck can continue his recovery before returning to active duty on the frontline again once more…

* * *

I hope that you enjoyed today's chapter and please review on your way out. Thanks.

Next Chapter: The next chapter will either be Redemption: Part Eight or Redemption: Finale. I'm not sure yet. I will also need to make a difficult decision as to whether I keep this story T rated, or I buff it up to M rated in anticipation of what's to come. I don't particularly enjoy typing out T rated intimate scenes, but naturally I want all of my workings to attract as many people to read them as possible as I want the maximum number of people to enjoy my work :) So I'm reluctant to hide this story behind a secondary search filter. I just don't know what to do in regards to it. But the next chapter regardless will take place in Los Angeles, as will the next couple of them.


	34. Redemption: Part Eight

Ok, this chapter ended up being much, much longer than originally anticipated, so the next chapter will no longer be the Finale of the Redemption segment. It will DEFINITELY be the last part before the finale though. Which was what this chapter was going to be, but I didn't want to post out a 12-15k chapter as review count is dwindling once again and I didn't want to feel demoralized like I would have if I didn't get many reviews for what would have been my biggest ever chapter.

I truly hate begging for reviews, as it's tedious and demoralizing so I'll just state this: Please review. It really does make a massive difference. It offers me infinite motivation to write when I read your interaction with me and it also helps the development of the story as a writer truly can not get enough feedback. The coming chapters will be very powerful. And I need to put all of my attention into making them as good as I possibly can and not be disheartened by you meanies not reviewing! So get to work on your reviews! Just like I am working by providing you with Chuck content. It's a two part relationship and one person can't be putting in all of the work! :)

Barring any last minute change of tactic, I'm probably going to type out Redemption: Finale as a standalone M rated chapter and I will post it as a lone individual piece inside the M category. That way I can continue to tell the story in a T rated setting, but also describe and try to capture the moment without a leash and restrictions in regards to what I show. After nearly seven years since they last had sex, I think it's important to do that and not hide and diminish it behind a rating barrier.

I don't know how I will structure and link Part Nine, Redemption: Finale and the immediate chapter following Redemption: Finale yet. And it might take me a bit of time until I'm able to come up with something to link the missing chapter that will be missing from the story so at the end of the next chapter, there may be a couple weeks break from the story as I work on typing out that individual M rated chapter, and then the immediate after chapter that shifts back to T rated again.

Word Count for this Chapter: 7545

* * *

 **Chapter Thirty Four**

 **Redemption: Part Eight**

 **Los Angeles, California**

 **18 December**

It was late morning inside Los Angeles and Sarah and Chuck were waking up in bed together inside a hotel room that they had checked themselves into the previous night as they had no personal accommodation in this city any more as Chuck's personal property was in Virginia and Sarah's was in Washington D.C.

After discharging from the recovery hospital that Chuck had spent six weeks of his life at with Sarah at his side, Sarah and Chuck had then returned briefly to their base of operations for a night as they gathered their personal effects. They then boarded onto a military transport aircraft the following day and they had arrived back in their home city last night and as soon as they had checked into the hotel room together, they collapsed together in exhaustion.

But this morning however, both halves of the young couple felt extremely relaxed for the first time in months as they lay under the duvet covets together in blissful harmony.

"Sarah, jet lag or not, with you next to me again that was easily the best sleep that I've ever had in my life after everything that's happened to us the past few months." Chuck mumbles happily into the pillow as Sarah then begins to hug even deeper into him on hearing his words from where she was spooning behind him as she also begins to kiss the back of his hair where the young couple lay together.

"Me too. I don't know how I was able to survive the past two months not being able to be in the same bed as you. It was torture." Sarah admits in response as she continues to plant kisses into Chuck's hair while her hand was placed inside of her lover's shirt as she rubs circles on his stomach where he lay infront of her though she was being extra careful to avoid the area where he had been shot.

"Sarah, I've missed everything about this. I've missed your touch. I've missed your warmth. I've missed your scent. Oh, this is the true definition of heaven." Chuck declares happily with a huge grin on his face as he breathes out an enormous deep sigh of satisfaction.

Sarah giggles sweetly on hearing his declaration to her and Chuck then began to turn and adjust himself to face his girlfriend so that he could look at her as they conversed with each other.

On turning fully so the young couple were now facing each other, Chuck moves his hand to rest on Sarah's hip and Sarah's head was now resting in her hand as she propped herself up on her elbow as they lay on their sides and began to stare adoringly at each other.

"Baby, did you have any nightmares last night?" Sarah asks soothingly as she continues to affectionately touch and play with her soulmate with her free hand now outside of his shirt as she began caressing around the area of his heart from where they lay facing each other.

Chuck shakes his head no, before replying to reinforce his point, "Nope. Just dreams of an extremely beautiful blonde haired angelic goddess laying next to me." Chuck says as he begins to smirk.

"Oh? Who would that be then?" Sarah asks flirtatiously as she also begins to smirk.

"Vicki Vale." Chuck laughs out and Sarah shakes her head disapprovingly before pushing his shoulder with her hand which caused him to fall onto his back and Sarah immediately moves to find herself a new resting spot as she began to nestle into the uninjured side of his torso and she wraps one leg over his own so that her two legs were now resting between Chuck's lone one.

"You doofus! You're unbearable!" Sarah giggles to him on finishing her repositioning but with her hand remaining unchanged as she continued to roam and caress all over his torso with her hand inside her lover's shirt.

"That's why you love me. Right?" Chuck laughs back as they look at each other from where Sarah was now nestled into him.

"That and one thousand other reasons, baby." Sarah states as she smiles at him as they continue to burn a deep adoring stare into the eyes of each other.

"Care to tell me some of them?" Chuck responds as he smiles at her.

Sarah laughs sweetly for a long moment before replying, "You go first."

"Sure, we can play your game." Chuck says before pausing briefly to prepare himself.

"Firstly, you're breathtakingly beautiful and you belong in Hollywood, using your breathtaking looks to earn twenty million a year. You don't belong in the CIA and in the horrible world that we both presently live in, and you never did. And you're not just beautiful outside, far from it. You are most beautiful inside." Chuck declares matter of factly and pauses for a brief moment to smile at her while Sarah also has an enormous smile of wonderment on her face on hearing his revelations before he continued further once more, "And I can't wait until the day I marry you." Chuck declares powerfully causing Sarah to smile brighter with every single word he spoke.

"Me too." Sarah admits from where she lay nestled into him as her radiant smile continues "And Chuck, if you keep talking like this, then we'll be making love in about the next five minutes." Sarah declares to him.

Chuck laughed for a moment before responding, "Like that's a bad thing." he says and Sarah giggles in response before he continues further, "Sarah, I'm ready right now. I'm not afraid of losing you any more. I know you won't leave me again. You've more than proved that with what you did for me by not leaving my side at the hospital once and besides, I knew that even before I got shot, it just reinforced my belief." He declares to her with a deep smile.

"I know you're ready. I got your emails, remember?" Sarah laughs as she then begins to caress his cheek with her hand from where she continues to lay into him.

"God that feels like twelve months ago." Chuck admits to her with a huge grin on his face.

"I know. Tell me about it." Sarah laughs back

"So, what's stopping us now?" Chuck asks cheekily whilst winking his eyebrows at her causing Sarah to giggle sweetly.

"Baby, I don't want you to strain yourself and I don't want to mess around with your recovery as you're not one hundred percent again yet." Sarah admits truthfully to him as Chuck's health and wellbeing will always come before Sarah's sexual desires no matter how strong they were for him.

Chuck smiles warmly at her. "Ok. But as soon as I am?" Chuck asks.

"Ok." Sarah agrees as she smiles brightly whilst her hand continues to roam affectionately all over her soulmate's torso.

"Sarah, I have kept you waiting for too long. It's been more than four months since we met again and I was just afraid of losing you and opening myself up to you again." Chuck admits to her.

"Four months? Wow!" Sarah gasps in shock at Chuck's revelation.

"I know... Four months and seven days since I set eyes on you again to be exact." Chuck chuckles to her.

Sarah laughs hard for a long moment before responding, "You nerd!"

Chuck grins deeply before responding, "What can I say, Sarah? I have to put my brain to good use." he jokes.

Sarah laughs deeply again at his joke before replying, "Ok, not too much longer then. And by the way, I have many uses for your brain so don't worry about it not being put to good use and being kept active." Sarah jokes.

Chuck laughs at Sarah's comment before responding, "I'll take your word for it."

Sarah giggles at his response.

"So, what's the plan whilst we're back home here?" Sarah asks softly.

"Fitness, fitness and more fitness. I have to gradually increase my activity." Chuck says as he begins to laugh at his sad and depressively plain life plan.

"Ok." Sarah replies as she begins to laugh with him.

Once their laughter had died down, Chuck spoke again, "It doesn't feel like home any more." he declares sadly with a wry smile to her.

"I know right?" Sarah completely agrees with him and they pause for a moment in glumness at their sad revelation.

"Chuck, we should probably plan and talk about where we're going to live in the near future once we leave." Sarah says eventually.

"Yeah." Chuck replies in agreement with her.

"Sarah, do you want to stay in LA after I leave the Navy?" Chuck then asks.

"I don't know, baby." Sarah admits as she pauses for a moment to sigh and she begins to contemplate what Chuck had said to her. "We have lots of great memories here but we also have bad ones over how we ended. I'd like a fresh start somewhere new and with nothing but happy memories for when we start our family together." Sarah admits and Chuck smiles deeply at her.

"I agree with you. So what about Virginia? It's where we reconnected with each other again. That's happy memories, huh?" Chuck suggests warmly.

"That sounds perfect." Sarah agrees as she smiles deeply at him before they then begin to move to kiss each other tenderly for a long moment of affection.

On breaking their kiss, Sarah began to rest her head up against her lover's own and his neck as they continue to lay intimately together.

"When I return to active duty, we'll be in Afghanistan." Chuck states sadly to her as he breaks the silence once more.

"Yeah..." Sarah agrees in the same tone as she looks up at him from where she was nestled into him.

"Have you been there before?" Chuck inquires.

Sarah nods her head before responding, "I've been there more times than I've been in LA since I joined the CIA." Sarah admits sadly.

Chuck nods his head as it was the exact same for him. "Same for me since joining the Navy." He says.

Sarah and Chuck continue their intimate stare into each others eyes and they smile sadly at each other.

"Baby, I never want to go back there again." Sarah admits to him.

"Me either but I have to." Chuck replies depressively as the young couple then pause for a moment in silence and reflection.

Chuck eventually breaks the silence once more. "You don't have to come back, Sarah, if you don't want to." He says softly.

"What, and be a stay at home housewife and miss you excruciatingly for the final full year whilst you're away? No thank you." Sarah finishes as she laughs for a brief moment.

Chuck smiles weakly at her. "It wouldn't be a full year, once this deployment is over in three months I won't be deploying again for several months and it would be one final six month tour." Chuck reveals to Sarah.

"That's still too long. I just can't do it, Chuck. I can't be without you." Sarah admits powerfully to him and Chuck smiles again at her.

"Being a CIA Special Agent and seeing what we see over there is worth it just to be close to you." Sarah then admits to him.

"Sarah, don't say that." Chuck replies as he shakes his head sideways disappointingly.

"What? I'm telling the truth. I want to be with you for every living moment." Sarah replies as she continues to smile adoringly at him.

"Sarah, all those years of pain I have suffered in the Navy was worth it just to now be with you again, I wouldn't have found you again if I had not have signed up." Chuck admits.

"Chuck…" Sarah replies but pauses as she doesn't know how to respond to him.

"What? Now I'm the one to tell the truth." Chuck replies with a grin.

"I'm sorry, baby." Sarah says emotionally.

"Sarah, we have well and truly moved on from that now. Right this moment, our relationship is better than it was in the final months that we were together at college and it's as strong as it has ever been, don't you agree?"

"Yes, I do agree but the only reason it was bad back then in the final months was because I was already in the CIA and I was deceiving and distancing from you as I fought an inner battle with myself and baby, I don't care if you tire of hearing me say it, but whenever this conversation comes up I'm going to apologize because of what I did to you. You've forgiven me, but I never will, and you can't make me." Sarah says adamantly with conviction.

"Sarah, it wasn't your fault. It was my lying, deceiving, scumbag father's fault. If he hadn't have done what he did to us, then you would have told me the truth about the CIA, and about that man you'd killed." Chuck says confidently.

"And then you would have hated me and dumped me." Sarah interrupted him as she looked up at him from where she lay and smiled sadly at him.

Chuck shook his head strongly in disagreement before replying, "No honey, I would not. You killed him in self defence. It was you or him and I would have understood that completely." Chuck paused briefly as he began to play with Sarah's bed hair as they continue their intimate stare at each other before he continues again, "Sarah, do you think that I would have allowed you to die just to keep you honest and sweet?" Chuck paused again, this time to audibly scoff for a moment at the ludicrous suggestion he had just made before continuing again, "Sarah, you seen what I did to those sick bastards when I seen you in the state that they had you in inside that safehouse all those months ago, and I don't regret it for a single second because I wouldn't let anybody touch a hair on your head nevermind let them kill you! So I would have forgiven you. And I would have comforted you through your ordeal of taking a life. And you would have left the CIA after you had told me the truth and we would have followed our dreams and our plans that we had created. You have nothing to be sorry for. My father does. So I'm afraid you're wrong sweetheart. Because I can and I will make you forgive yourself because you have nothing to be forgiven for. And I don't want to talk about the topic any further, it's closed." Chuck commands her powerfully as he then quickly moves his lips to kiss Sarah on sensing she was about to object and continue the conversation further. But as soon as their lips connected together, Sarah got lost in the touch and the taste of her soulmate as the young lovers engaged in a passionate snogging session as they refused to start their day together as they continue to revel in the touch and the warmth and the comfort and the tender loving affection of each other…

* * *

 **Later That Afternoon**

Sarah and Chuck were now finally out of bed and they had officially begun their day together.

"Sarah, I want to visit Mom and Ellie and Awesome today." Chuck says to Sarah.

"Ok." Sarah replies as she then smiles sadly as she wants it to be just him and her, but she understands that he needs to see them, as they must have been worried sick on finding out he had been shot and being completely powerless in being unable to visit him as he recovered.

"Will you come with me?" Chuck asks her pleadingly.

Sarah shook her head no in anxiousness before responding, "Chuck, I can't." Sarah protests as she pauses to wave her hands and make anxious facial expressions. "They hate me and they would probably murder me on setting eyes on me." Sarah states extremely anxiously and apprehensively at the scaring and dreadful thought of her facing her lover's family again once more.

"Nonsense, Sarah. They will forgive you and besides, it was my rotten father that caused this, not you." Chuck responds with conviction to Sarah.

"Chuck, I don't want you to tell them what he did." Sarah admits to him with a sad smile.

"Sarah, they deserve to know." Chuck responds truthfully.

Sarah moves to wrap her arms around him from where she stood behind him as she hugs into him.

"Baby, haven't we had enough hurt in our lives?" Sarah asks as Chuck arches his head behind him to make eye contact with her.

Chuck nods his head in complete agreement, before responding, "Yes honey, we have. But Sarah, we can't just lie or deceive our families with something as big as this."

"Chuck, I get that but what if it causes a divorce? Could we live with ourselves knowing that we split them up?" Sarah replies anxiously as she begins to frown and pout.

"Then Sarah, it will have been the right thing to do. He has deceived all of us for nearly seven years and if my Mom and Dad can't work through the problems that it will cause then they shouldn't be together anyway." Chuck states truthfully as he turns around in the embrace as the young lovers then wrap their arms around each other.

"Chuck, at least let me be the one to tell them everything that happened. It needs to and should come only from me." Sarah says as as they continue to stare intimately at each other.

"Then come with me." Chuck replies to her.

"I can't." Sarah admits again as she begins to feel petrified of his family once more.

"Sarah, you're going to have to face them at some point. We can't go the rest of our lives without seeing my family. We can't get married without them attending and we can't have children without letting them see their relatives. What kind of life will that be for our kids when they see that their own mother can't associate or mix with their grandmother and their auntie?" Chuck says truthfully and sincerely as he smiles weakly at his girlfriend.

"Baby, I'm scared." Sarah admits nervously in deep sorrow as she averts her glance away from him and begins to look down at the floor of the hotel room.

On hearing Sarah's response, Chuck then removes one hand from around Sarah's waist and he moves to rest a finger on his girlfriend's chin as he then slowly begins to raise her face up to make eye contact with him again.

"Honey, I'll protect you. I won't ever let anything or anybody hurt you, not even my own family. You mean more to me than anybody on this earth, you know that right?" he says as he continues to burn an intimate stare into her eyes.

"I know." Sarah admits as she smiles weakly at him still inside the embrace and removes one of her own arms that were wrapped around him as she moves her hand to affectionately caress his cheek.

"So you'll come then?" Chuck asks hopeful.

Sarah shakes her head no causing Chuck to sigh deeply once more at his vulnerable and petrified girlfriend. Chuck will have to come up with a way to help her through this as it quite simply absurd to suggest that they can avoid her coming into contact with his family for the rest of her life, he just wouldn't allow it. It wouldn't be a healthy relationship for them, not to mention their children.

"What will you do then?" Chuck asks in resignation, now feeling resigned to accepting that he would be visiting his family alone today.

"Chuck, it's one week until Christmas. I need to shop for a gift so I don't think I could come today regardless, as I could use the free time." Sarah admits as she smiles adoringly at him.

"Oh crap. Sarah, I forgot." Chuck admits truthfully as he winces and begins to feel shameful for forgetting.

"Baby, it's ok. I did too until I seen something on the way to the hotel yesterday. With everything that has happened in our lives, celebrations have been furthest thing from my mind." Sarah admits truthfully as she smiles weakly at him.

"Me too." Chuck agrees with his girlfriend.

"Sarah, what do you want?" Chuck asks softly.

"I have everything I want right here. Having you back in my life is the best gift I could ever have wanted." Sarah declares powerfully with a bright smile as she stands up on her tiptoes and moves to connect her lips together with her boyfriend in the middle of their hotel room where they stood together.

"Surely you must want something?" Chuck asks on breaking the kiss.

"Surprise me." Sarah replies as she smiles brightly at him and Chuck grinned deeply.

"I can do that." Chuck declares as he continues his deep grin at her.

"You always did." Sarah admits with a huge smile.

"So did you." Chuck replies and Sarah giggles as they both begin to think back to the four Christmases they had shared together.

"So many happy Christmases." Chuck then says.

"And we'll have fifty more." Sarah declares with conviction.

Chuck grins deeply in response.

"Chuck?" Sarah says.

"Yeah?" Chuck responds.

"Kiss me goodbye." Sarah demands as she grins at him

"I can do that." He replies, as they move to kiss each other once more…

* * *

 **Mary and Stephen Bartowski Residence**

Chuck had just arrived at the home of his mother and father after taking a taxi. He was still not one hundred percent comfortable on his feet and today was going to be a long day as he had to shop for several gifts. Chuck is feeling eternally thankful to Sarah for her reminding him what holiday would be occurring in just seven days time.

Chuck rang the doorbell as he awaited a response.

A few moments later, the door to his parents home opened and Chuck met his eyes with his sister who immediately began to gasp on seeing her younger brother standing at the doorway.

"Chuck!" Ellie exclaims in extreme delight and shock

Chuck smiles deeply at her before responding, "Hi, El." He says affectionately.

Chuck and Ellie were soon joined by their mother as she joined her daughter and stood behind her as she glanced at her son and they began to smile deeply at each other

"Hi, Mom." Chuck says as he moves to hug both of his relatives.

Ellie began to squish his torso in the embrace and Chuck winced slightly.

"Aah! No squishing or death hugs please. Be mindful of the injury." Chuck says.

"Sorry." Ellie replies and Mary grins at the affection shown between her children.

"Chuck, why didn't you tell us you were coming back. This surprise is too overwhelming." Mary says emotionally to her son as tears leave her eyes.

"I had no way of telling you." Chuck admits.

"What about dad? He could have passed on the message." Ellie responds.

"I'm not on talking terms with him right now." Chuck admits truthfully.

"Has something happened?" Mary asks as she quirks her eyebrows at her son's comments.

"You could say that." Chuck replies with distaste and a mini scowl on his face because of what his dad had done to Sarah and himself.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Mary asks her son.

"I'll leave that for another day. Right now I'm just here to see you both and nothing else matters." Chuck replies as the three family members enter into the family home.

"Where's Devon?" Chuck asks as himself, Ellie and Mary stood stationary inside the home.

"He's working. He will want to see you though." Ellie responds.

"And me him." Chuck replies.

"You don't know how good it is to see you." Ellie responds and Mary furiously nods her head in agreement with her daughter.

"Me too." Chuck replies with a huge grin.

"So what are you doing here in LA? Your base is in Virginia." Mary says to her son.

"I'm recovering in an R&R phase. My troop was due a few weeks of R&R anyway so I decided to come here." Chuck states.

"Where are you staying?" Ellie asks her younger brother.

"I'm at a hotel." Chuck replies.

"Chuck, you could have stayed here." Mary says warmly to her son.

"I know." Chuck replies as he continues to grin at his mother.

"I have something very important to tell you both." Chuck says.

"Ok." Mary replies to her son.

"We should probably sit down for this. It's going to be pretty big." Chuck warns.

"What Bartowski reunion isn't big?" Ellie jokes.

"Heh." Chuck replies to his sister and Mary smirks at her children.

The three Bartowski's were now seated and Chuck began to speak again.

"So I don't know if dad has told you, but um, I've been working together with Sarah and we have been back together for a few months now." Chuck admits truthfully to his family members.

Mary gasps in severe shock on hearing her son's revelations while Ellie's face lights up in anger.

"Chuck, please tell me this is some kind of sick joke!" Ellie fumes in anger as she stares intensely at her brother and Mary likewise was doing the same to her son.

"It's not. We're back together, and I love her." Chuck responds with conviction causing both of the Bartowski women to shake their heads in disapproval on hearing his words to them.

"Chuck, she broke you! And how the living hell could she be working with you?!" Ellie begins to demand answers from her brother.

"Didn't dad tell you?" Chuck asks.

"No he most certainly did not!" Mary replies with distaste on hearing that her husband had kept something as important and huge as this from her.

Chuck winced slightly on hearing his mother's confession. If she was angry at this revelation, he's not sure how she will respond when Sarah gets chance to tell them everything.

"What the freaking hell is going on, Chuck?!" Ellie demands in frustration.

"Sarah wants to tell you herself." Chuck replies calmly.

"Then where the hell is she!" Ellie replies with rage.

"She's scared you'll attack her." Chuck replies

"And so she should be!" Mary replies as the two Bartowski women begin to think back to what happened to their son and brother when Sarah had left him and both of the women had to comfort and console him as he lay broken and hunched up inside his bedroom all those years ago. Both of the women swore that if they ever made contact with Sarah again, they would give her what for.

"She's not welcome in this household after what she did to us!" Ellie fumes.

"Mom?" Chuck asks as he looks to his mother for help over his sisters aggressive and hostile attitude.

"I'm sorry Chuck, but I agree with Eleanor. What she did to you and how she crushed you. We can't forget that, Chuck." Mary replies truthfully to her son.

"Mom, sis, it's not what it seems. There's an explanation behind it different to the one that she gave all those years ago." Chuck replies.

"Well then I sure would love to hear it!" Ellie replies angrily.

"And you will. She just needs time. Please, you have to know that there's not been a day that went by that she didn't regret what she did, but it's not her fault."

"How is it not her fault?!" Ellie scoffs in response.

"She will explain it to you, as soon as you see her." Chuck repies

"I don't think I ever I want to see her." Ellie replies dismissively to his suggestion.

"Well that's tough because if you don't, then you wont be seeing much of me." Chuck responds with conviction and then continues further, "Sarah the past few months has done more for me than anybody in my whole life and that's not taking anything away from either of you both because you have both done everything for me in my first twenty years of life but Sarah did not leave my side once in the nine weeks that I spent injured in hospital and she was a broken mess."

"Is that supposed to make me feel sorry and have pity for her?" Ellie responds coldly.

"I would think so, El." Chuck responds as he begins to get frustrated over his sister's attitude.

"Well I'm sorry, but it doesn't." Ellie responds truthfully.

"Chuck, she crushed and stamped all over your heart and you come here demanding and expecting us to forgive how she treated you?" Mary says to her son in complete astonishment at her son's naivety.

"Since when did you both become so heartless?" Chuck asks in disbelief.

"Oh I don't know, maybe when some woman stamped all over my brother's heart and now that very same woman is back in his life to wreck and bestow more havoc upon him!" Ellie shouts in anger to her brother over his stupidity.

"Sarah wouldn't hurt me again." Chuck declares with conviction.

"Then you, Chuck, are truly an idiot. I thought you had a brain." Ellie paused as she strongly shook her head disapprovingly at him, "All those years in the Navy must have made you soft headed!" Ellie screeched at her brother.

"Eleanor..." Mary warns her daughter to cool down her temper.

"No, I'm sorry. You deserve to get hurt again, Chuck." Ellie declares as she then storms off.

Chuck turns to sigh deeply to his mother.

"Chuck, she has a point. She blames you joining the Navy on Sarah. You can't expect her to just forgive that." Mary says softly to her son.

"Mom, I can. You don't know Sarah's reason for leaving or even other events that happened." Chuck replies.

"Then tell me, Chuck." Mary demands her son.

"I want to mom. Trust me I really want to tell you right now but I promised Sarah I would let her be the one to tell you and I can't break that promise." Chuck admits.

"Then bring her here, Chuck. I think we have a right to know." Mary says.

"Mom, I agree, you absolutely have the right to know and I will, she just needs time to do it when she's ready. She is absolutely petrified and remorseful over what happened all those years ago." Chuck says truthfully to his mother.

"Then at least tell me why she is CIA." Mary demands.

Chuck nods his head in acceptance. "She joined it in our final year of college at Stanford. Sarah was recruited to spy on somebody on campus." Chuck replies truthfully.

Mary continues to sit opposite her son as they continue to stare lovingly at each other.

"I love her mom. I love her more than I have ever loved anybody. And I'm sorry, but at soon as I leave the Navy, I'm going to marry her." Chuck declares with absolute conviction.

"Oh, Chuck..." Mary replies softly to her son as her heart begins to warm on hearing her son's declarations to her.

"I'd do it right now but I don't want that strong level of commitment whilst I'm tied into the Navy. I don't think its fair on her." Chuck replies truthfully.

"You're really serious?" Mary asks as she stares adoringly at her son.

"More than I have ever been in my life." Chuck replies instantly with conviction as he grins deeply before continuing, "She's the one. And she always has been. I knew it the moment I met her." Chuck declares as he continues to grin in extreme happiness.

"Just listen to what she has to say mom, please?" He emotionally begs and pleads his mother to see reason.

"Ok." Mary agrees to her son's demand as she smiles warmly at him.

"Oh thank you, mom!" Chuck belts out happily as his grin grows deeper..

* * *

Chuck was still inside of his parents home and he had now walked to join his sister who was cooling off in one of the bedrooms.

"Ellie..." Chuck says from the doorway as he looks at his sister who glances up at him.

"Chuck, I remember how broken you were that day she left you. And it was me and mom who had to pick up the pieces and console you. You're my younger brother and I've always tried to protect you from harm." Ellie says.

"I know that, El." Chuck replies softly as the siblings glance at each other.

"And then you joined the Navy." Ellie adds in.

"I know that too." Chuck replies as he nods his head.

"And it was Sarah that drove you to doing that Chuck." Ellie says.

Chuck shook his head in disagreement. "Ellie, that's not true."

"Isn't it?" Ellie scoffs in response.

"Of course it isn't, El. It was me and me alone that walked into that recruiting office. And let me tell you this: it was the biggest mistake of my life." Chuck replies with conviction.

"What changed?" Ellie asks as the siblings continue to glance at each other.

"Huh?" Chuck asks.

"When I last seen you in person you told me you loved the Navy and that it was all you had in your life, so what changed?" Ellie asks.

"Sarah did. She changed me. I've been reconnected with Sarah again for four months now and in those four months she's made me feel alive again. I have a purpose again and that's why I want you to hear her out. Things are not what they seem, El." Chuck says warmly to his sister.

"I don't know, Chuck. I don't know if I can." Ellie replies truthfully as she doesn't think she can stomach setting eyes on the woman who had crushed her brother.

"Ellie, I'm not asking you. I'm telling you. I insist that you hear her out. I'm going to spend the rest of my life with her regardless of what you say. My mind is already made up. I want to marry her." Chuck declares with absolute stonewall conviction and nobody would change his mind. It was made up.

"Chuck, I can't promise anything." Ellie replies.

"At least consider it, for me?" Chuck pleads with her.

"Ok." Ellie replies reluctantly.

"Yeah?" Chuck asks.

"Chuck, ok. I'll consider it. But I will never be able to forgive what she has done to this family." Ellie replies.

"Ellie, there's so much I want to say to that. But I promised Sarah I would let her be the one to inform and apprise you and I can't break that promise that I made to her. I just need you to know that all is not what it seems. She didn't leave me because she didn't love me, like she told me. I wasn't just some distraction to her, like she told me. She never stopped loving me. Since reconnecting with each other she has told me she wants to marry me and start a family with me and she has been broken for seven years, Ellie. Seven long years…"

* * *

 **Much Later That Evening**

Chuck was just returning back to the hotel room that he was staying at with Sarah after an explosive reunion with his family and then shopping for Christmas gifts. His whole body hurt like hell as Chuck has been more active today than he had been for the past two months.

Chuck was now outside the hotel room that he was staying at with Sarah and he knocked on the door of the hotel room.

Sarah answered it a few moments later and the young lovers smiled brightly at each other and she moved to stand back as Chuck entered and she quickly closed the door after them as she was wearing just a customary hotel dressing gown robe and she didn't want anybody outside to see her as it was pretty revealing, and nor did Chuck.

"Hi." Chuck greets Sarah on shutting the door and turning around to face her.

"Hi." Sarah replies as she begins to smile adoringly at Chuck.

Chuck puts down his shopping bags and Sarah then to moves to hug into him as they begin to kiss each other desperately after being apart all day and both of the young couple had missed each other excruciatingly.

"I missed you." Chuck says on their lips parting each other as he grins deeply at her.

Sarah returns the grin. "I missed you too." Sarah replies in a low pitched deep affectionate tone.

"I'm sorry I'm so late back. After visiting Mom and Ellie I went shopping." Chuck reveals to Sarah.

Sarah smiles in response before replying, "It's ok. I was late back too." she admits.

"Sarah, I don't know how you can make such a simple robe so beautiful but you do, with ease. You look absolutely beautiful." Chuck declares as he takes in the appearance of his girlfriend from where they stood.

"Thank you." Sarah replies as she smiles shyly at his sincerity as she moves to affectionately caress his cheek with her hand and rests herself into his warm embrace.

Chuck yawns into the embrace. "I forgot how tiring shopping was." Chuck declares and Sarah laughs sweetly before pulling her head back from where she was resting into his chest.

"How are you?" Sarah asks him as she can see him suffering slightly.

"I'm so tired." Chuck admits.

Sarah giggles sweetly. "Me too. Are you ready for bed?" She asks as she smiles warmly and holds his hands with her own.

"I should shower first." Chuck replies mid yawn.

"Ok." Sarah replies with a smile.

"Join me?" Chuck asks cheekily with a smirk.

Sarah shook her head no with a bright smile on her face. "Chuck, I can't. I wouldn't be able to shower with you without losing all control and I would probably do strong damage to your recovery." Sarah admits as she begins to giggle sweetly.

Chuck laughs with her. "Ok. I won't be long." He says warmly.

"Baby, take your time." Sarah replies as she smiles lovingly at him before moving to kiss his lips again.

On separating their lips, Sarah lets go of him as Chuck then walks into the bathroom and Sarah moves to climb into bed as she waits patiently for her lover to return from the bathroom...

Chuck returns to the room a short while later all freshened up and moves to join Sarah in bed.

On Chuck joining her in bed, Sarah instantly moves to nestle into him as the young lovers relax into the warm, tender, delicate touch of each other.

"How was your Mom, and Ellie?" Sarah asks softly as she looks up at him from where she lay into his torso.

"Extremely shocked to see me." Chuck laughs and Sarah grins deeply.

"I told them about you." Chuck then admits.

Sarah looks up nervously at him.

"How did they take it?" she asks nervously and she suddenly found it hard to make eye contact with him in anxiousness.

"Mom agreed to listen to what you had to say and I told her that you was CIA and how you joined but I didn't tell them anything else." Chuck replies truthfully to her and Sarah nods her head in acceptance.

"What about Ellie?" Sarah then asks nervously as she makes anxious facial expressions as Chuck's older sister scares the living hell out of her.

"She wasn't as accepting." Chuck admits truthfully to his girlfriend.

Sarah instantly lowered her gaze in sadness.

Chuck noticed her depressed spirits and tried to comfort and reassure her, "Sarah, honey, we need to do this. It's the right thing to do." Chuck says softly to her.

"I know." Sarah admits.

"It will be ok, Sarah. We've came through much, much worse in recent months." Chuck responds soothingly.

"I know. That's true." Sarah replies as she nods her head in agreement as she begins to think about the issues that she has faced together with him the past four months.

"You know it is. We can do this, Sarah. Everything will be ok I promise you. We're together now and we will work through every single issue that we face including my family hand in hand. You're not alone any more, and you will never be alone ever again as you have me back with you once more." Chuck says powerfully to her with a deep smile, which Sarah returns to him.

"I can face anything as long as I'm with you." Sarah admits to him.

"Then we'll do it together, soon. Ok?" Chuck states soothingly.

"Ok." Sarah agrees to his demand.

Chuck smiles brightly on hearing her response as they then prepare themselves to close off for the night.

"Good night, Sarah. I love you." Chuck declares powerfully.

"Good night, Chuck. I love you too." Sarah replies equally as powerful as the two soulmates then slowly begin to drift off to sleep...

I hope you enjoyed today's chapter and please review on your way out.

Next Chapter: So next chapter is technically Part Nine but I may title it Redemption:Finale just to avoid confusion as Redemption:Finale will be an exclusive individual M rated chapter posted separately.

Also, Sarah's reunion with the Bartowski women won't be coming in the next chapter. That chapter will be the following chapter after Redemption:Finale.

I can't reveal or spoil what's going to happen next chapter. But it's going to contain something absolutely MASSIVE and it will be central to the remainder of the story plot.


	35. Redemption: Part Nine

**Chapter Thirty Five**

 **Redemption: Part Nine**

 **Los Angeles, California**

 **20 December**

Sarah and Chuck have now been back inside their home city for three nights and they were now midway through their third full day inside the city.

"What do you want to do for the rest of today, Chuck? The past two days you have been visiting people as you spent the whole of yesterday with Devon and your family the day before so can we please spend today together?" Sarah asks pleadingly as she desperately wants some alone time together with her boyfriend. Sarah wants it to be just him and her together today after a few difficult months and she just wants to unwind and relax and chill out together with him.

"Sarah, I wanted to see Bryce's mother today. He was my best friend who was killed who I've told you so much about." Chuck replies with a sad smile and look of remorse on seeing Sarah immediately begin to fill up with a look of despondence on hearing his response as she begins to huff and scratch away at her hair for a long moment in frustration on hearing what Chuck has just said to her which has ruined her own plans for today.

"I'm sorry Sarah, really I am." Chuck says sincerely as he smiles warmly at her and gives her an apologetic puppy eyed look.

"Chuck, since we arrived here I've barely seen any of you. This will be the third day in a row of you going somewhere all day. You wanted me to come here with you but I've only seen you at bed time." Sarah says frustratingly to him as she shakes her head in disapproval over receiving a lack of attention by her boyfriend ever since they arrived here.

Chuck nods his head in acceptance. She was completely right in what she had just said to him and he would not even begin to argue otherwise. "Sarah, you're totally right and I get that. But I have other commitments too and I can't just drop everybody else as much as I want to be with you." Chuck states sadly to her.

"Chuck, I'm not asking you to do that, but three days in a row? Come on... What about your commitment to me, Chuck? Don't I matter? Am I not included in your plans also?" Sarah responds frustratedly.

"Sarah, like I said. I completely get it and you're right. I'm not going to come out with an excuse as I know there isn't one and I know that I'm not being fair on you but as soon as I am finished with today's visit, it will be my last one and I'll devote and spend quality time with you." Chuck replies sincerely and apologetically to her.

"But that's just it Chuck, you won't do what you just promised. Because it's Christmas and you're not going to spend the festive season away from your family and I wouldn't want that anyway and now I feel like a bitch in doing this but if I don't speak up for myself, then when am I going to get to see and spend time with my boyfriend? Which is why I came here, for you." Sarah replies frustratedly as she continues to sulk over Chuck ignoring her ever since they arrived back in LA.

"Sarah please, just today? One final time?" Chuck begs as he shoots her a pleading glance.

Sarah didn't respond as she then continues to huff and sulk and doesn't make much eye contact with Chuck as her glance shifts down at the floor instead.

"Sarah, please don't be like this. You're making me feel inches tall right now." Chuck pauses to try and regain eye contact with Sarah, which was unsuccessful, "All of the people I've spent time with mean a lot to me and when else am I going to find the time to see them as my base is in Virginia and when I'm not at base I'm always deployed?" Chuck asks with his mind in conflict. One half of him felt extremely guilty for not spending time with his girlfriend. The woman whom he wants to spend the rest of his life with. The woman he wants to marry in the not too distant future. The woman he wants to carry and raise his children together with him. But the other half of him wanted to see his other family members. He wanted to see the mother of his best friend and the grandmother of his goddaughter.

"And I'm the woman that you sleep and wake up next to, don't forget that Chuck." Sarah replies as she makes brief eye contact with him again and Chuck sighs deeply on hearing her response.

"Sarah, I won't ever forget that. I'll make it up to you, I promise." Chuck says as he looks sadly and apologetically at his girlfriend.

"Don't make promises you won't keep, Chuck." Sarah huffs as she then begins to feel very guilty inside over what she is doing to him right now but she can't help it. Sarah is feeling extremely jealous inside that everybody wants to bother with Chuck again all of a sudden. It was her and her alone that was at his side for nine weeks whilst he was injured and she had devoted herself unconditionally to him as she nursed and fought together with him in his battle to stay alive and now everybody suddenly wants him again and she is barely seeing him. Sarah doesn't think that's remotely fair on her in any capacity whatsoever.

"Sarah, I am not making a promise I can't keep." Chuck says with conviction to her.

"Whatever." Sarah replies disconnected from the conversation as her frustration continues to boil over.

Chuck breathes out a deep sigh of sadness.

"Sarah, honey, I don't want to have an argument over something so silly. I don't have a leg to stand on in this argument. You have every right to want to spend time with me and I get that you are mad right now and all I can say is that I will make it up to you, Sarah, I will." Chuck says with conviction.

Sarah continues to stand in silence and begins to ignore him as her gaze still averts her lover's eyes as she continues to look down at the floor of the hotel room that they're staying in.

"Sarah, if I can't get you to see reason and talk with me then I should probably leave if there is nothing I can say or do. So I guess I will see you later this evening. I love you." Chuck declares as he walks to the door of the hotel room they're staying at.

"Don't bother just for my expense, Chuck! I wouldn't want you to trouble yourself and go out of your way just for my benefit!" Sarah shouts sarcastically at Chuck who pauses at the door and turns back to look dejectedly at his girlfriend as he sighs deeply aloud before then departing the room and closing the door after him...

On Chuck leaving their hotel room, Sarah collapsed onto their shared bed and breathed out a deep sigh of frustration into the duvet.

"I need to get drunk." Sarah states aloud to herself.

* * *

As Chuck began to reluctantly make his way to visit Bryce's mother because of everything that Sarah had just said to him, he stopped almost immediately at a gift shop along the way and began to navigate the store for a few minutes before stopping at his intended destination.

Chuck then spends the next few minutes looking at a selection of soft toys on the shelves before finishing his search as he now holds two fifty centimeter tall sized extremely cute Teddy Bears in his hands with the message on the first one reading 'I'm Sorry.' and the second reading 'I Love You.'

Chuck then spends another couple of minutes debating back on forth over which one to buy for Sarah but ultimately still being unable to choose one to purchase.

"Screw it." Chuck murmurs aloud to himself. As he then walks with both of them as he begins purchase his gifts.

"Two, huh?" The staff member serving Chuck at the toy shop states to him.

Chuck grins brightly before responding, "They're both for a very special person."

"Lucky woman." The staff member replies with a smile.

Chuck continues his grin, as he pays for his gifts and then begins to depart the store to continue on with his day...

* * *

 **Later that Evening**

Sarah was now at a bar in Los Angeles. She had been here for a few hours and she has had several drinks to try to curb her frustrations that stemmed from Chuck ignoring her and him not putting any time into their relationship since they had arrived back in Los Angeles together and Sarah was now trying to unwind and let her hair down and vent out her frustrations over her present relationship difficulties.

Sarah had now began to order another drink to the barmaid standing in front of her when she was then interrupted from doing so and she began to shift her glance to the side of her to look at the intrusion.

"Allow me?" a strange man asks on Sarah finishing her order as he offers to pay for her drink.

Sarah then begins eye the male up as she takes in his appearance. He looked in his late twenties or early thirties and was quite handsome looking.

Sarah then dismissively shakes her head no in response to the stranger's offer.

"Go on. What do you have to lose?" He asks with a grin on his face.

"A relationship. I am explicitly taken." Sarah states as she continues to shake her head dismissively at him.

"You don't look happy in it, nor do you look taken." He states confidently.

"I am happy. Deliriously happy, actually. I'm just going through a minor blip right now." Sarah states sadly.

"Maybe I can help you through it." The stranger says flirtatiously.

"I will pretend I didn't hear that." Sarah replies as she looks at the strange man distastefully who was still standing in her proximity and had still not left her alone despite her offering no signal to him in any capacity whatsoever that it was okay for him to talk to her, as it wasn't.

"Look... Who ever you are..." Sarah starts but is interrupted.

"Aaron." The stranger interrupts and states to Sarah.

"Ok, Aaron. I'm not interested. So please leave me alone." Sarah demands strongly as she looks at him briefly and then averts her glance back at the barmaid still standing infront of her once more.

"Your loss." Aaron replies confidently as he begins to walk away causing Sarah to begin to snort in response to hearing what was just said to her and she then begins to shake her head sideways at the barmaid who was glancing at her.

"The audacity of some people." Sarah states to the female bar worker standing opposite her.

The barmaid laughs, before replying, "Do you still want that next drink?" the barmaid asks with a smirk on her face sensing she already knew the answer to what she had asked.

"I don't think it's wise." Sarah admits a little tipsily with a smirk of her own and the barmaid nods her head in agreement with what Sarah had just said to her.

"I should probably leave here right now so I can't be placed in a situation where I could potentially make a mistake that would haunt me for the rest of my life." Sarah then states in extreme anxiousness at her revelation as her mind begins to fill up with deep worry and concern as she suddenly doesn't trust herself to be in a bar any longer.

"That sounds like some extremely sensible advice, hon." The barmaid replies as she smiles warmly at Sarah.

"Thank you." Sarah replies as she nods her head appreciatively at the young barmaid standing opposite her while also smiling deeply at her.

"I didn't do anything hon. You came to the realization all by yourself." The barmaid replies and Sarah smiles at her before standing up from her stool and she then departs the bar to head back to her hotel room…

Sarah arrived back at the room of her hotel half an hour later. Entering into the room, she calls, "Chuck?" as she walks deeper into their hotel room.

"Are you here, Chuck?" Sarah calls out as she walks into the bathroom which was the final room that he could be inside if he was back at their room yet, which he wasn't.

Sighing deeply to herself over that encounter back at the bar, Sarah began to kick herself out of her heels as she then began to get undressed and headed straight to shower to cool herself down...

* * *

Sarah was now lazing on the bed inside the hotel room that she's staying at with Chuck and she had been watching TV for some time when she began to hear activity at the door used to enter and exit their hotel room.

Sarah immediately moves to stand up from the bed as she waits for Chuck to open the door to greet him.

Chuck then entered the room and Sarah doesn't even give him a moment to enter as she begins speaking to him.

"Baby, I'm so sorry for earlier! I'm selfish, I know. I just miss you so much whenever you're gone! After all of those weeks of it just being me at your hospital bedside alone looking after you I got jealous because you've been spending time with everybody but me since we got here!" Sarah says emotionally to him as she tries to apologize for what happened earlier on in the day.

Chuck has his back turned and was looking away from Sarah and he was stood stationary as he faced the hotel door for a moment in pause.

Chuck then began to turn to face her and Sarah's face immediately lights up in happiness on seeing him holding two stuffed bears in his hands and she begins to read their messages. Sarah's happiness soon turned to sorrow however, as she then raises her face level with her soulmate's and she can see that he looks extremely emotional.

Sarah then watches as Chuck slumps to the floor of their hotel room and he leans against a wall inside the room and he begins to hunch his body into a ball and he then begins to sob aloud from where he lay crunched up into a ball.

"Baby, what's wrong?" Sarah asks extremely concerned as she closely studies the location of her soulmate.

Chuck doesn't respond to her query and he continues to deeply sob into his knees and arms.

"Baby?" Sarah asks once more as she then rushes over to his aide to comfort and help him through whatever ordeal and mental trauma that he's now experiencing.

Sarah was now on the floor of their hotel room just like him and she was sitting facing him and was just infront of him.

Chuck continued to lay hunched with his head tightly in his knees and Sarah soon replaces his knees with her body as she moves him into her as her soulmate continues to cry into her chest.

"Baby, you're absolutely drenched and soaked right through." Sarah declares worriedly as Chuck feels like he's been stood stationary in the heavy rain shower presently occurring outside for at least the past hour.

"Baby, what's wrong?" Sarah asks once more as she continues to attempt to sooth him by rubbing her hands affectionately all over his body and face.

Chuck still doesn't answer her queries as he continues to sob and cry loudly into Sarah's chest from where she has him positioned to comfort him. His hands are hanging lamely and he's in a severe state of shock and he is not reciprocating the embrace that Sarah has him locked in.

"Chuck talk to me. You're scaring me. What the hell has happened to you tonight, baby?" Sarah asks him emotionally as she continues to soothingly stroke his body and his hair to comfort him.

"She's dead." Chuck cries to her as he lifts his head and he looks into the eyes of Sarah feeling spaced out and lost in a complete world of his own.

Sarah instantly does a double take on hearing his response to her.

"Who has died, baby?" Sarah asks soothingly as she continues to stroke and affectionately caress her soulmate.

On Chuck not responding for a few seconds, she asks him again, "Chuck, who has died, sweetie?" Sarah asks soothingly once more.

"Jill Larkin. Bryce's wife. Death by suicide. My goddaughter is now parentless." Chuck sobs to her as he looks at Sarah lost and broken in the deepest state of anguish that he has ever been in his entire life.

"Oh, baby." Sarah replies in deep sorrow and remorse as Chuck continues to cry into her and she rubs his back and strokes him extremely soothingly and affectionately.

"WHY IS LIFE SO FUCKING BRUTAL AND CRUEL!" Chuck screams out as he continues to sob into Sarah's chest from where his head was buried.

"Baby, I'm so sorry." Sarah states emotionally as tears stream down her face and she begins to feel extreme sorrow and distraught over her soulmate's wellbeing.

Suddenly, Chuck began to repeatedly and violently slam his head back into the wall that he lay hunched against.

"Baby, stop it! Please!" Sarah cries to him as she tries to grapple and grip hold of him to stop him from hurting himself but he doesn't listen and continues to do it.

"Chuck, you're hurting yourself! Stop it, please!" Sarah begs him as she immediately then moves to put herself between her soulmate and the wall to force him to stop hurting himself as she grips hold of him tightly to hold him in place.

Sarah's grip didn't last long and it wasn't strong enough to hold him in place as Chuck began to stand up from Sarah's grip despite Sarah's best attempts to stop him and keep him pinned in place to soothe and control him as she sensed he was about to snap in anger and rage.

On standing fully, Chuck suddenly lets loose an almighty fit of anger as he storms over to a dresser inside the hotel room and he begins to slam and punch his fists into the table as he screams out violently in anger.

On seeing her soulmate's rage, Sarah immediately darted up and securely wrapped her arms around him to try and hold him back from damaging himself any further than he already had.

"Baby, you're scaring me! Please calm down!" Sarah begs and pleads and cries to him but he doesn't listen to her and continues to slam his fists into the dresser with every part of his body tensed in anger and his eyes spaced out in absolute uncontrollable rage.

"Chuck, please!" Sarah continues to cry and beg with him to stop him hurting himself "Please baby! Baby please stop!" Sarah continues to beg him but she is unable to control his rage for several long minutes and Chuck continues to let loose an almighty outburst of anger inside the hotel room as he pounds his fist into walls, dresses and throws things despite Sarah forcefully holding onto him and attempting to restrain him.

Sarah eventually with extreme difficulty managed to tackle her soulmate down to the floor.

"STOP IT! BABY, STOP IT!" Sarah screams to him as she forcefully pins him down onto the floor near to the door of their balcony mustering every ounce of her strength to hold her overpowering Navy Seal and her well defined soulmate forcefully down in place on the floor to stop him doing any more serious harm to himself.

"Please Chuck, calm down baby!" Sarah cries to him as she continues to pin him to the floor using all of her body weight.

"Calm down baby. Calm down. Calm down. Calm down." Sarah continues to repeat soothingly to try and stem his anger and his rage levels as Chuck continues to scream out in pure agony and mental trauma as she strokes him from where she has him pinned…

* * *

It had now been a short while and after extreme difficulty, Sarah had finally managed to bring under control her soulmate's rage and his dangerous levels of mental trauma.

Tears continue to stream down their faces and Sarah takes hold of Chuck's hands and she leads him to bed so she can begin to deeply comfort him inside of it. Sarah takes him onto the bed with her and she pulls them both down onto it and she pulls the duvet over them and she then moves to wrap her leg over him where they lay facing each other. Sarah then moves as close as physically possible into him with their heads now touching together and her hand continuously non stop stroking his face as Chuck looked into Sarah's eyes with a lost and anguished expression on his face and in his eyes from where the soulmates lay together.

"Sarah, I was two seconds away from jumping off a bridge." Chuck declares brokenly to her causing Sarah to gasp in utter dread as she caresses Chuck's cheek and tears continue to stream down her face.

"Please don't leave me Chuck. I need you baby. You're all I have. Without you I don't have anything in this world. We can come through this. It might not seem like it right now, but we can. And I'm going to help you through it because I absolutely adore you." Sarah says emotionally to him as tears continue to fall down her face and Sarah continues to comfort and soothe her soulmate as he continues to cry into her in complete dread and utter brokenness for the rest of the long and painful night...

* * *

A/N Please review. I won't say that I hope you enjoyed today's chapter. As I don't expect anybody to enjoy it too much. Just know that it's central to the plot of the story. There were always two core plots to this fiction. Firstly, there was Sarah's redemption. That was the main plot between Sarah and Chuck exclusively. But then there has always been a side plot all story long in addition to Redemption, and that was about Chuck and his teams vendetta against the terrorist commander called Red Eye who they tried to capture in Ramadi in April 2006 in Chapter 7. And I sense that vendetta is now about to become a whole lot STRONGER because of what he has done to Bryce Larkin's family, don't you?

So yes, this has always been my plan for Sarah's Redemption ever since I first devised the idea of the story. Sarah has earnt her Redemption by being there for Chuck when he needed her most (even though she technically earnt it at his hospital bedside but this version of it is MUCH more powerful, this chapter was the ultimate redemption in my opinion) and the next chapter is going to show Sarah getting that Redemption as the events inside the next chapter will pick up the morning after what happened to Chuck the previous night. As stated already, I won't be showing any sexual themes in the next chapter, because I want to describe the scene without a leash and restriction so I will be cutting the chapter short as soon as things begin to heat up and those scenes will be posted separately as an accompanying standalone piece inside the mature category.


	36. Redemption: T Rated Finale

**NOTICE: THIS IS NOT THE STORY FINALE. JUST THE SEGMENT. THE STORY STILL HAS 15-20 CHAPTERS REMAINING.**

* * *

 **Sorry fanficers, I've confused everybody including myself** **in recent days. This is the first time** **that I have** **written an accompanying** **M rated** **piece** **for one of my T rated stories and** **I've been finding it quite** **head scratching** **in regards to** **how to structure the ending of this particular segment but I do believe that** **I have** **finally** **found an acceptable way to work around this. I'm going to type out Redemption: Finale as both a T rated version and also an M rated version. So if you don't mind M rated content, then you can go to my fanfiction profile in just a few days time and you will find Redemption: Finale available** **and waiting** **in a mature rated** **setting just as soon as it's ready.**

 **But if you only want T rated content, then you can continue to read this chapter, but it won't be very long** **in comparison to the other version.** **My** **M Rated** **Redemption: Finale version will be the true place to go for an** **extended** **experience that will cover 22nd December through to 24th December because this segment finale is** **largely** **intended to bring back Charah's sexual intimacy with each other again once more. Though this chapter does have other very strong moments aside from what I just mentioned, as you will see from reading it.**

* * *

 ** **Chapter Thirty Six****

 ** **Redemption: T Rated Finale****

 ** **Los Angeles, California****

 ** **21 December****

"Sarah, I'm so sorry for what you witnessed from me last night," Chuck says in a cracked and broken hoarse tone of voice which was caused from his emotional outburst the previous night with his eyes still puffy from all of the emotion he had bled as he begins to smile weakly from where he lay facing Sarah with their heads still touching together more than twelve hours since taking up the position that Sarah had placed them both in the previous night.

"Baby, it's ok. You're safe again now," Sarah says as she pauses briefly to smile deeply at him with her own eyes still puffy from her own outburst of emotions as she then begins to lovingly stroke his cheek with her hand. "I wasn't scared for myself, Chuck. You would never harm me," Sarah declares with absolute conviction and briefly pauses again to smile at him once more. "I was only scared for you, and for your safety. You are all that matters to me."

"Sarah, if you were not in my life again last night then I would no longer be alive this morning," Chuck admits in that same rugged tone of voice to her.

"Chuck, please don't say that," Sarah replies softly to him as she smiles weakly.

Chuck smiles weakly at Sarah. "But Sarah, it's true. You are all that's clear in my messed up and broken life. That's why I came back here last night and why I didn't do what I stated. Thoughts of you kept me alive, even through all of that deep pain I was experiencing at that moment."

"Baby, don't think about it. You didn't do it and you came back to me, because you're strong and brave," Sarah states softly as she smiles at him and continues to affectionately caress his cheek with her hand.

"Sarah, I am not strong. I am weak and you deserve better than a broken guy like me. The Navy has destroyed me. I'm not the same guy from college any more. I'm ashamed of who I am now. I have nothing left inside of me any more, I'm empty," Chuck replies depressively in the same tone of voice used in the conversation thus far.

"You're not weak, Chuck. You're incredibly brave. And you're right, you're not the same guy from college. You're different now. You are changed and you are broken. But so am I, Chuck. I'm different and I'm changed and I was broken too before I found you again. And now it's my job to fix what they have done to you, baby, like you have fixed me. I despise the government for what it does to its people with its politics. I despise the wars that come from those political games. And I despise the military," Sarah states with strong distaste because of what they have collectively done to her soulmate.

"Sarah, it's not your job. It's not fair on you. Why should it be your responsibility to look after me?" Chuck asks.

"It wasn't your job to fix me, Chuck, but you did," Sarah states with a huge smile to him. "And it is my job because I love you and I want to spend the rest of my life with you."

"Sarah, I don't think I can be fixed. I'm too far gone. You're right, it has broke me," Chuck states despondently.

"You can be fixed, Chuck. And I will NEVER give up on you until my dying breath and even then I hope there's an afterlife because I want you in it right next to me where you belong..."

* * *

 ** **Later that Morning****

"Sarah, I feel so mortified. Look at the state that I have left this room in," Chuck says as he glances around the hotel room which has been absolutely trashed by his own hands.

"Chuck, don't think about it right now, we can worry about that later," Sarah says comfortingly to him.

"Sarah, I have to think about it right now. I was raised to respect others and this is extremely embarrassing for me. I lost my cool and look at the mess that I have made. I have not respected other peoples property and I have embarrassed you too as you are a guest in this room also," Chuck states shamefully as he feels deep remorse over his rage and his anger that he displayed last night.

Sarah smiles warmly at him. "You haven't embarrassed me, Chuck. We will tell them about the bad news you have received and as long as you pay for the damages then it should be fine," she says reassuringly to him.

"But first, let's clean up and assess and tend to the damage that you have done to yourself and then we'll see to that other problem afterwards," Sarah says as she then takes Chuck's hand and they walk into the bathroom together...

* * *

 ** **Later that Evening****

Chuck and Sarah have now been moved to a new hotel room. Initially, the hotel management were extremely concerned and displeased with Chuck because of the damage he had told them about but they eventually became more forgiving on hearing about the dreadful news that he had been given in addition to Chuck's deep sincerity in being extremely remorseful over what he had done inside the room as he repeatedly and shamefully apologized for it and he also insisted that he be billed for all damage caused. Chuck had then signed a document on his own insistence which stated that he agreed to pay for damages and they had now just finished moving rooms.

"Sarah, I'm so sorry for having to put you through this humiliation," Chuck says shamefully to Sarah on them both entering their new accommodation.

Sarah smiles warmly at him. "I don't feel humiliated, Chuck. You just reached your emotional breaking point and you snapped. You are only human and it's not your fault for the way that we are wired. We can only take so much hurt and pain in our life before we reach our breaking point and we snap, like you did."

"I feel better for doing the right thing. They were very forgiving of me," Chuck states with a weak smile.

"They were," Sarah agrees.

Chuck then begins to sigh deeply.

 **"** Sarah, I can't believe what Jill has done. How could she leave Hollie alone no matter how much grief she was going through. She was her mother. Hollie needed her." Chuck says in deep sorrow to his soulmate.

"Chuck, it will be okay. We'll figure it out together," Sarah says comfortingly as she then moves to hug him where they stood.

"Sarah, it's not okay. What about Hollie? What am I going to do?" Chuck asks in dread as he begins to panic.

"You can apply to be her guardian, right?" Sarah asks softly.

Chuck nods his head. "If it goes through the courts and her grandparents agree, yeah," Chuck responds.

"So we can do that then, Chuck. And then she can live with us," Sarah states to him without even needing to think about the implications and the commitment necessary on her behalf over what she has just suggested as she smiles adoringly at him.

"Sarah, you don't need to do that. That's a lot of commitment for somebody you have never met," Chuck replies sincerely to her.

"Chuck, I do need to do it. I plan to be with you for the rest of my life and everything that it entails and you know exactly what I'm talking about," Sarah says as she pauses to smile deeply at him. "So every problem you ever face in your life is also my own problem until the day we die." she says powerfully with absolute stonewall conviction attached to her words.

"Oh Sarah, I love you so much!" Chuck declares emotionally as he smiles deeply at her and he moves to touch his forehead against her own inside the embrace that the two young lovers are still locked in.

Sarah smiles brightly in response to his declaration as she then begins to affectionately stroke his face from where they stood.

"But Sarah, I'm still in the Navy for another year," Chuck says as he smiles weakly. "She cant live with us yet."

"Baby, we'll figure it out together I promise you," Sarah says assuredly as she then moves to stroke his arm with her hand whilst still inside the embrace with him. "Can she stay with Bryce's mother until we're ready to take over the responsibility once you leave the Navy?" she then asks.

"She's far too ill. She is not in good shape whatsoever," Chuck states as he then begins to sigh deeply.

"What about Jill's parents?" Sarah then suggests.

"That's where she is right now," Chuck says as he nods his head. "But they never really had a relationship with her and Jill's parents are really struggling to deal with her. Hollie is so detached and she has been for weeks. She's not talking to anybody and is just crying for her mom and dad," Chuck says as he then starts to get upset and emotional once more as he runs his hands through his head and has to fight and choke back tears and emotions again.

"Baby, don't get upset again. I can't bear you suffering," Sarah says in a low pitched tone as she moves to stroke Chuck's cheek with her hand before then hugging deeply into him again once more.

"What about a medical discharge, Chuck? We could take over responsibility almost immediately then," Sarah then suggests to him.

"Sarah, I can't go out like that," Chuck says as he shakes his head no. "I wouldn't be able to live with myself for the rest of my life knowing I chickened and bailed out."

"Baby, you're broken. You can't go back there, it will kill you," Sarah says with deep concern and dread over the health and wellbeing of her soulmate.

"Sarah, I'm already dead. I'm empty and broken inside," Chuck declares emotionally in response to her.

"And what about Hollie, Chuck?" Sarah asks softly as her face begins to show deep emotion.

"What can I really offer her, Sarah? What do I really have left to offer other than misery and dread?" Chuck asks despondently.

"And what about me, Chuck?" Sarah asks as she begins to break apart deep inside over his words to her.

"Sarah, you're probably better off without me too. I'm empty. You don't deserve to have such a broken and empty partner," Chuck states as he then lowers his gaze down to look at the floor in deep sorrow.

On hearing what Chuck has just said to her, Sarah immediately slaps Chuck's face hard with her hand where he stood facing her. "DON'T YOU EVER SAY ANYTHING LIKE THAT TO ME EVER AGAIN!" Sarah snaps and screams angrily into Chuck's face but he then continues to avoid eye contact with Sarah with his gaze still fixed looking down at the floor.

"I SAID DON'T YOU EVER SAY ANYTHING LIKE THAT TO ME EVER AGAIN!" Sarah screams into Chuck's face a second time on him not responding to her demand.

Chuck still doesn't respond and Sarah once more slaps Chuck's face a second time over his comments and him still not responding to her demand. "I SAID DON'T YOU EVER SAY ANYTHING LIKE THAT TO ME EVER AGAIN!" Sarah screams once more a third time to him on still not receiving a response from him.

Chuck finally begins to slowly raise his face and he then begins to look into Sarah's eyes again once more. "I'm sorry." Chuck says remorsefully as he stares blankly into her eyes.

Sarah immediately then moves to hug into him again once more. "You're still beautiful and perfect to me, Chuck, regardless of what they have done to you baby, because I know the real you and it will come back one day, once we move on from all of this hurt that comes with you being in the Navy," Sarah says as she pauses to run her hand through the back of his hair inside the embrace with him. "So don't make me live without you, Chuck. I won't. I have tried it once for nearly seven years and I can't."

Chuck does not respond and he keeps his head nestled into Sarah's shoulder.

"If you die out there Chuck, then I will die along with you," Sarah whispers powerfully to him.

That got a response from Chuck as he pulls his head back to look into Sarah's eyes. "Sarah, please don't say that," Chuck says softly to her.

"Then don't make me say it, Chuck! Because I'm serious! I mean it!" Sarah shouts emotionally to him as she stares right into his eyes.

"Then Sarah, I had better be careful not to die because I can't ever let anything happen to you," Chuck says and he pauses as he cups Sarah's cheeks in his hands. "You are the only thing in my life that makes it worth living." Chuck says powerfully as he then begins to break up and cry.

"Me too," Sarah replies emotionally as tears leave her own eyes as the two soulmates expose themselves to each other while they continue to hold each other comfortingly in the middle of their hotel room…

* * *

 **Los Angeles, California**

 ** **22 December****

Sarah and Chuck have now begun to wake up this morning closely joined together as they face into the eyes of each other. They have placed themselves in this sleeping position for two nights running now and their heads were sharing the same pillow and they were so close to touching together whilst they each have an arm protectively placed over each other and Chuck begins to raise his arm up and away from Sarah's body as his hand connects with Sarah's face and his thumb then begins to softly stroke and brush back Sarah's hair and they begin to smile warmly at each other.

Sarah then closes her eyes at the touch of her soulmate as she begins to breathe in deeply at his touch.

"Hi," Chuck says as he smiles at Sarah and he watches her begin to open her eyes on hearing him speak to her.

"Hi," Sarah responds as she opens her eyes to smile warmly at Chuck again.

"Sarah, I'm so sorry for the distress that I have made you suffer the past two days," Chuck says as he burns a deep loving gaze into his soulmate's eyes.

Sarah smiles warmly at him on hearing his words to her. "Chuck, you didn't make me suffer. You didn't cause this. You are a victim of it," she says softly.

"Sarah, regardless of who caused it, I'm all spent now," Chuck says to her with a bright smile on his face.

On hearing his response, Sarah smiles deeply at him again once more. "Good. Because I can't bear to see you suffering for a moment longer. The past two days have been the most painful and difficult days of my whole life seeing you so broken like that," Sarah admits emotionally to him as she begins to smile sadly at him.

"You won't have to see any more, Sarah. I promise you I won't lose control like I have the past day and a half ever again in my life. You have truly helped me through this massive crisis that I was having. You were here for me when I had nobody else in this world. I want to thank you, Sarah, from the deepest corner of my heart," Chuck says emotionally with a wide smile that comes straight from his heart as he continues to stroke back Sarah's hair with his thumb.

"Baby, you were also there for me when I had nobody else also. I was a just few seconds away from being brutally gang raped for however long they would have done it and then I would have been killed afterwards and you saved me," Sarah states emotionally as she pauses and begins to caress Chuck's own face, just as he had previously done with her. "I love you more than anything in this world and I will do absolutely anything for you, Chuck. I'm going to be your wife one day. And what kind of a future wife would I be if I can not comfort and be there for my future husband?" Sarah asks him with a bright smile.

Chuck grins deeply on hearing Sarah's question. "Sarah, I love you too and I just want you to know that as soon as I leave the Navy, I plan to ask you," Chuck declares with conviction to her.

Sarah smiles brighter than she ever has before on hearing his response. "And I just want you to know, Chuck, that when you do ask me, my answer is going to be yes," Sarah declares as she begins to grin while staring deeply into his eyes.

Chuck returns the deep grin to her, as they begin to close the tiny distance between themselves and they rest their hands onto each others face as they then begin to kiss each other in a delicate, tender and slow loving fashion.

Their kiss soon began to heat up as a deep desire for each other began building up inside of themselves and their kissing began to get more passionate and their touching became more intimate and vigorous.

Sarah then begins to turn onto her back from where she was formerly positioned on her side and Chuck instantly moves with her as he now begins to hover over her as they continue to kiss and their hands begin to roam passionately over each others face, neckline and shoulders as the young couple's breathing patterns quickly begins to increase.

Chuck has to break the smoldering kiss that they have been locked in for the last few minutes as he begins to get his breath back but with their bodies still touching and Chuck rests his forehead idly against Sarah's as he begins to grin at Sarah from where he was hovering over her and Sarah returns the grin to him in kind.

Chuck then adjusts himself as he begins to kiss Sarah again, and his hands then begin to roam down both sides of Sarah's body while Sarah has her arms locked around her soulmate's neck as their desire and lust for each other quickly begins to increase and heat up as their body temperatures rose drastically from the passion that they had begun to create together.

The young soulmates continue to kiss each other as seconds turn into minutes and their desire for each other increases further and further each passing second as Chuck's hands continue to skirmish and explore while Sarah's hands run all over Chuck's face, neckline and his hair.

Sarah then breaks their latest kiss that they had shared. "Baby, are you sure?" she asks as she looks up into his eyes from where she was laying under him.

Chuck smiles deeply at her as he looks down at her. "Sarah, I have never been more sure of anything in my life. I don't want to wait any longer. I need you, right now. I'm ready," he states with a huge grin to her.

Sarah grins right back up at him on hearing his response to her. "Ok," she says as she smiles brightly up at him once more and Chuck continues to grin as they connect their lips together once more.

And as they continue to kiss and taste each others mouths, Sarah's own hands then finally begin to roam over her soulmate as she gently ran her hand down the middle of her soulmate's torso, before finishing and placing her hand firmly onto his crotch.

And after nearly seven long and painful years of being without each other, two young lovers were now just moments away from consolidating themselves together as one once more…

A/N Sooooooo... I hope you enjoyed today's chapter a little more than the previous one! Please review on your way out :)

And if sex or smut or love making or whatever you want to call it is your thing, then do keep looking at my fanfiction profile in the coming days for my Redemption: Finale M Rated Version. That standalone accompanying piece will pick up EXACTLY where this chapter left off. And it will cover from 22nd to the 24th December with several scenes of Charah's newfound intimacy once more. But if the above is not your thing, then the next T rated chapter will be Christmas Day. And Sarah will finally be meeting the Bartowski women again once more.


	37. Christmas at the Bartowski's: Part One

HAPPY TIMES ONLY from here on out in this story (As you will have already seen if you have read my accompanying M rated piece) We have now entered our final arc for the story after the events that occurred concerning Jill. There will not be any more anguish for the remainder of the story. Though Chuck and Sarah will still face difficult challenges because that's just the way life is :)

Now I want to talk a little about my M rated piece that I posted. As I only got 2 reviews for my M rated Redemption piece, if I don't get any more, then I'm just not going to bother typing out the three further M rated intimate sexual scenes that I had planned to write. Because it's simply not worth the effort of spending ten days of my life writing content for just 3 people (and one of those being myself) Which is why you're seeing 25th December Christmas Day content before the Romantic 24th December Christmas Eve Chuck and Sarah content that I had planned to write (and what you'll witness Charah talking about in this chapter)

* * *

 **Chapter Thirty Seven**

 **Christmas at the Bartowski's Part One**

 **Los Angeles, California**

 **25 December**

Today is Christmas Day for more than eighty percent of countries worldwide. It is a day known for celebrations and families spending joyful, harmonious loving moments together. It is a day where stuffing faces with deliciously scrumptious food was acceptable and strongly encouraged. It is a day of exchanging presents and gifts. It is a day of deep expressions of love, intimacy and romance. It is a day of warmth and affection. And it is a day jam packed full of extremely over excited children being visited by Santa Claus the night before.

There wasn't anybody expecting a visit from Santa Claus inside this particular room. Instead, there were just two adult lovers waking up in the arms of each other. And both halves of this specific couple were feeling deep euphoria to be back together in the comfort of one another after being apart from each other for six and a half long and torturous years. Chuck and Sarah will be celebrating their fifth Christmas together today, and if last night on the eve of Christmas was anything to go by, then it will be remembered as a very passionate and extremely romantic one in the years to come when they fondly and vividly look back at it with joy...

"Mmm. Good morning, baby. Happy Christmas," Sarah mumbles sleepily to Chuck with a humongous smile of satisfaction present on her face as she adjusts her naked body slightly into a more comfortable position after beginning to feel a little discomfort from where she had fell asleep into the uninjured side of his chest and she then begins to caress his chest with her hand from where it was still placed over him from the night before.

"And the exact same to you too, buttercup," Chuck replies with a deep grin as he nuzzles and kisses the top of Sarah's head from where it lay on his chest as his hand also begins to play with the back of Sarah's shoulder from where he had positioned and wrapped it around her from when they had fallen asleep together after a passionate Christmas Eve that he had spent together with her.

Sarah giggles sweetly on hearing his response as she continues to affectionately caress her lover's chest with her hand.

"Did you like your early Christmas gift last night?" Sarah asks flirtatiously as she arches her head up to look at her lover with a wicked smirk on her face.

"Like?" Chuck pauses as he shakes his head sideways. "No, I loved it," Chuck then says with conviction.

Sarah giggles deeply with satisfaction and contentment once more on hearing his confession as she continues to stare into his eyes from where she lay on him.

"Thank you for yesterday, Chuck. It was the most romantic night of my whole life," Sarah declares to him with a huge grin of contentment present on her face.

Chuck grins deeply on hearing Sarah's response to him. "It was my apology for not being a good boyfriend and kind of ignoring you for the first three days of being back here and then putting you through hell for two days after it," he admits.

"Well, then it was easily the best apology that I have ever had in my whole life because I feel on cloud nine right now, baby," Sarah declares with her continued humongous grin of satisfaction present on her face.

"Me too," Chuck states as he sports Sarah a deep smile as the lovers continue to play around with each others body using their hands.

"That restaurant was truly five star," Sarah says to him in deep wonderment.

"It was," Chuck agrees as he sighs contently.

"And expensive," Sarah then adds in.

"You're worth every single cent," Chuck declares with conviction.

Sarah grins deeply and begins to giggle as she continues to affectionately caress and play around with her lover's chest with her hand.

"I wish we were spending Christmas in our own home and not at a hotel. I want a Christmas tree," Chuck admits to her with a sad smile.

"Me too baby, and we will soon," Sarah says assuredly and she pauses as she raises her hand up from his chest to his face instead as she begins to stroke his cheek. "Besides, it's better to spend it here than in some stinking, baking hot desert, right?"

Chuck nods his head strongly in agreement. "True, true, when you put it like that, then this is pretty much perfect," he replies.

Sarah grins from ear to ear on hearing his response as her hand continues to play around with him.

"Besides, it's the company that makes it good, not where you are and I'm with the best company that I could possibly ever hope to be with," Chuck adds in and declares powerfully to her.

"Me too," Sarah replies in the same tone as she smiles deeply at her lover.

"We should probably get up and start the day and get dressed once more" Chuck suggests to her with a deep grin of fulfillment.

"Later," Sarah moans out as she begins to plant numerous loving kisses onto his bare chest from where her head was resting into him.

"Much later," Chuck moans back in response to her actions causing Sarah to giggle wickedly and approvingly as the lovers begin to express intimacy together once more…

* * *

 **Much Later That Morning**

Sarah and Chuck were now presently stood up inside their hotel room and they were embraced together with their hands around each other and they were now reluctantly dressed at least in Sarah's opinion. If Chuck was one hundred percent fit then Sarah would have adamantly insisted that they stay naked in bed for the whole day regardless of what day it was, but sadly, he was not.

"Sarah, we're going to go and visit my family today," Chuck tells her as Sarah had already agreed a week ago that she would do it with him soon and today was as good a day as any for it. And they had an excuse to go and visit today anyway, as it was Christmas.

"Chuck..." Sarah replies apprehensively on hearing his declaration to her and she begins to feel a little anxious over that dreaded thought.

"Sarah, please?" Chuck pauses as he pleads with her. "I want you to do this. It means a lot to me for you to reconnect with my family again. So can you do it, for me?" he asks pleadingly as he gives her a deep loving puppy eyed look that Sarah never once could resist.

"Ok," Sarah agrees to his proposal.

"Yeah?" Chuck asks as a grin begins to form on his face.

Sarah nods her head as a smile forms on her face. "Yes, Chuck. For you. I'll do anything for you," she admits causing his grin to grow deeper.

"Sarah, thank you," Chuck says elatedly.

"Thank me later," Sarah winks whilst smirking at him.

"I will, I can assure you of that," Chuck replies with a smirk of his own accompanied by a little eyebrow dancing.

Sarah giggles sweetly on hearing his words and looking at his facial expressions to her. "Chuck Bartowski, being so forward," she says flirtatiously.

"Well when I have a girlfriend as perfect and as stunning as you are, Sarah, then what can I say?" Chuck declares with a huge grin to her.

"Chuck, if you keep making these overpowering comments to me, then we're going to go right back to bed for round two right about now," Sarah warns as she begins to lustfully eye Chuck up and down before averting her glance to the side of where they stood as she glanced at the bed in the room occasionally.

Chuck begins to debate what Sarah has just said to him for a moment.

"I don't think I have the strength. You've almost broke me already," Chuck says sadly in resignation.

Sarah giggles once more. "Then it's time for me to give you your actual gift," she then says to him with a warm smile as she continues to hold onto his hands still inside of the embrace with him.

"What, the gift last night wasn't real?" Chuck jokes with a mock pout as he grins deeply at her.

Sarah shakes her head in disbelief. "You doofus!" Sarah says as she hugs into him and kisses him on his lips for a long moment before pulling back and then leaving the embrace as she begins to rummage through her luggage to collect her gift for him.

Chuck likewise also took the time to collect his own gift for Sarah and after a few short moments, the lovers returned to each others proximity once more now holding their gifts purchased for each other with deep loving smiles present as they began to stare intimately into each others eyes once more.

"I had your gift wrapped for you so you wouldn't have been able to see it the past week," Sarah states to him with a bright smile while threatening to laugh.

Chuck laughs for a brief moment on hearing her declaration. "Me too," he says as begins to grin causing Sarah to be unable to hold in her laughter that was threatening on hearing him tell her that he'd hidden his gift from her too.

"So who is opening their gift first this time then?" Chuck then asks with a deep grin.

"You go first. I did last time," Sarah states to him with her continued affectionate smile.

"Ok," Chuck says as he nods his head in acceptance as he continues his deep, warm grin at his girlfriend.

Chuck then starts to unwrap Sarah's gift for him in his hands before stopping to read the special message on it that read: **To the most amazing man that I have ever met. Happy Christmas. Forever Yours, Sarah xxx**

Chuck grins deeply on reading the message as he makes strong eye contact with Sarah who smiles adoringly at him.

Chuck then unwraps Sarah's gift out of the wrapping to reveal a small box. He then opens the box to reveal a second hexagon shaped box and on opening the second box, his eyes met with a rugged looking black and gold G-Shock Casio wristwatch.

Chuck continues his humongous grin as he studies his gift and shifts his glance between the gift in his hand and at his girlfriend occasionally.

"The shop assistant serving me stated it was very resistant. Obviously I needed to get something that was because of the nature your job." Sarah states to him with a wry smile.

Chuck continues his wide adoring grin at Sarah.

"It's also resistant up to two hundred metres underwater," Sarah informs him.

"Wow. I've never been below fifty," Chuck declares amazed at the durability of his gift with his trademark Bartowski grin still present and growing brighter by the second.

"It's hard to shop for a gift for someone in the military," Sarah then admits to him.

"Sarah, it's perfect. It's the best gift I could have wanted, Navy or not. Thank you," Chuck declares passionately as he continues to sport his girlfriend his wide grin of adoration caused by the woman he's staring deeply at.

Sarah was grinning from ear to ear on hearing her boyfriend's declarations to her. "Happy Christmas, baby," she then says in a deeply affectionate low pitched loving tone with her continued affectionate smile.

"Heh," Chuck murmurs with his continued Bartowski grin on his face as he places down his gift before then moving to take hold of his girlfriend's hands and they share a slow loving kiss for a long moment before pulling back and they continue to stare intimately at each other and their grins the size of bananas still present on the faces of the young couple that had not left once since they woke up, nor would it because just being with each other causes extreme happiness for the young couple.

"Now it's your turn to open your gift," Chuck then says with his continued wide smile.

Sarah lets out a brief low pitched giggle, before letting go of her boyfriend's hand as she then collects her gift to place it in the palm of her hands. Taking a moment to compose herself over what to expect when she opens it, Sarah begins to fill up with excitement as she then begins to open her gift before stopping to read a message that Chuck had left her just as she had him. It reads: **To the girl and now woman that has been in my dreams since the very first moment I met her. Sarah, I love you to infinity. Happy Christmas. Chuck.**

Sarah develops an almighty smile of joyful satisfaction once more on reading his message to her as she glances at him briefly with her eyes a little glossy from the message alone before shifting her glance back onto her gift as she unwraps it from the gift wrapping to reveal a fairly large box about the size of a paper napkin.

There is a message on the top of the box that reads 'Happily Ever After' in light pink writing and with a crown just above the writing with a very pretty pattern all around the edge of the squared box.

Sarah then begins to open up the box, which then hangs and fixes up into the air as it then reveals a message inside of it. Sarah begins to study the box and notes what appears to be an arch, and inside of the arch is a man and woman embraced closely together, with two animals that appear to be a bunny and a unicorn standing in their proximity. Under the companions is a message that reads 'Once upon a time' and away from the four companions and off into the distance ahead of them is what appears to be a castle standing tall at the top of the hill.

Sarah smiles adoringly on looking at the wonderfully crafted gift box and the presentation inside of it before fixing her glance back down at the centre of the box.

Sarah immediately then starts to gasp on her eyes connecting with her actual gift, and she shoots a hand up to her mouth as she begins to smile and she fills up with deep excitement and joy over her gift that causes her insides to scream with extreme happiness.

"Happy Christmas, Sarah," Chuck says with a deep grin and Sarah immediately makes loving eye contact with him once more.

"Chuck, it's so beautiful," Sarah declares emotionally in a low pitched loving tone and then begins to study her gift from him once more. Her gift from Chuck was an enchanted sterling silver bracelet with eight different charms placed all around of it. The charms included a unicorn, a frog prince, a crown that contained numerous small crystals and finally several beaded ring shapes that were pink or silver coloured.

"I spent hours looking at gifts for you and then I found this and I was just so mesmerized by it and its fairy tale. I found you again in the least likely of all possible places that I could ever possibly find you in. I'm a Navy guy and you're an Intelligence Agent yet we found each other again thousands of miles away from where we first met. Our story is like a fairy tale, and I was so attracted to this gift. I'm sorry if it's too soppy or cheesy," Chuck says sincerely to her with a deep Bartowski grin.

Sarah's eyes were sparkling with joy over Chuck's gift to her. "Baby, it's absolutely beautiful," Sarah declares powerfully as she grins from ear to ear and rotates her stares between her gift and her lover.

"I hope that the message that it implies isn't too much but I want to spend the rest of my life with you, Sarah. And I truly believe that we will live happily ever after," Chuck declares with an adoring tone of voice.

If at all possible which was unlikely as her mouth already hurt from smiling so much and so deeply, Sarah's smile increased further.

"No, Chuck. It's perfect. You're perfect. And we will. Baby, thank you," Sarah declares emotionally as her eyes continue to sparkle and she feels overwhelmed from such joy and happiness.

Chuck grins deeply on hearing her response. "I love you," he declares in a low pitched loving tone.

"Baby, I love you too," Sarah declares in that same loving tone that her lover used with her.

Sarah then puts down her gift and places it down next to Chuck's before moving into her lover's proximity once more and they begin to kiss each other in a deeply idolizing fashion as they also begin to delicately caress each others face and they both begin to get lost by the warmth of each other.

Their kiss soon heated up from a loving exchange to a passionate exchange as Sarah demanded entry to her lover's mouth and she begins to pull him down onto the bed as she moves on top of him and continues to kiss him and a deep lust and desire for him began building up inside of Sarah and she couldn't wait a minute longer, she needed to have him, right this instant.

"Sarah, I don't know if I can," Chuck admits with a sad smile on breaking their kiss to get their breath back as they have already had sex together several times since they got sexually intimate with each other just four days ago which definitely didn't do Chuck's recovery process any favors, not that he's complaining. He just doesn't think he's physically able to express his love at this particular moment.

Sarah begins to pout on hearing his words as she hovers over him. "Chuck, I can't wait until tonight. I need you. Just relax. Baby, I'll be so gentle and I'll do all of the work. Please?" she pleads to him against his lips with an adoring smile as her hand affectionately strokes his face.

Chuck chuckles for a brief moment as he nods his head acceptingly causing Sarah to grin joyfully on seeing his acceptance. "Now who's the sweet talker?" he asks her with a deep grin.

"That would be me," Sarah grins in response as Sarah then slow and delicately proceeds to make love with her soulmate before they leave to visit his family...

I hope you enjoyed today's chapter and please Review on your way out :)

Next Chapter: Christmas at the Bartowski's: Finale. What could possibly go wrong at a Bartowski reunion? *smirk*

If you want to see Sarah's perfect gift to Chuck then just search 'gsts100g-1a' on google.

And if you want to see Chuck's BEAUTIFUL gift to Sarah, then just search 'Chamilia fairy tale charm bracelet gift set' on google, it's so beautiful. I might have to drop hints to my boyfriend for him to get me it. I WANT IT! Lol!

Chuck and Sarah are going at it like rabbits, aren't they? Mind you, after nearly seven years of being without each other, I would too.

With all of the sexual activity they've been having since they got sexually intimate again, I don't think Chuck will need a fitness plan any longer. I'm certain that Sarah will take care of that for him! Lol!


	38. Christmas at the Bartowski's: Part Two

Good morning Chuck friends :) I am not feeling very well at the moment so updates could be a bit slow for the next week or so. I spent most of Tuesday and Wednesday at a clinic and hospital for checks. And I have been recovering for the past few days and I watched some Doctor Who because it always cheers me up when I'm feeling down :)

In better news, it's almost time for me to start considering what my next Chuck story will be :)

Right now there are two front runners at the top of my list.

Firstly, I am strongly considering writing out a post-finale Charah love story as my next piece just as soon as I complete this. The new story if I go with this option will contain minimal angst but right now it's lacking an actual plot other than romance.

Secondly, I am planning out an American football Chuck story (I am British so I am by no means an expert but I like its premise more than my soccer story that I also have in mind) Chuck and Sarah meet each other in either high school or college (not sure yet. Thanks to david carner and michaelfmx for being initial soundboards and giving me some opinions and ideas. If I do decide to go with this option, then I'll be sure to approach them for further guidance and direction. I could talk about soccer or rugby for hour upon hour but my knowledge of American football is limited to watching NFL games with my boyfriend. We are big fans :D) and Chuck has a one way ticket to the NFL. Sarah meanwhile is the daughter of a hall of fame Super Bowl winning head coach and her dream is to become an NFL head coach just like her father. This story when I get around to it will be the longest slow burn that I've ever done which is why it appeals to me most, because it's different to my other workings that I have here.

So I have just a final part of this AN before I let you enjoy the chapter. This segment was going to be just a two-part piece but it just ran on and on and on so it's going to be a three part piece. The final part is not ready yet so I wanted to post this because I don't know when I will next be able to post (because of my poor health)

Word count for this chapter: 6813.

* * *

 **Christmas at the Bartowski's: Part Two**

 **Los Angeles, California**

 **25 December**

"Chuck, I still remember when you first got this car as a gift from your parents," Sarah states with a wide smile to Chuck as she sits as a passenger inside Chuck's Dodge Challenger that was a gift from his parents many years ago back when they were in college together.

Grinning deeply on hearing Sarah's declaration to him, Chuck glances sideways to look at Sarah briefly. "It's a good car. Awesome has taken good care of it for me while I've been away."

Sarah nods her head in agreement. "Yeah, he has," she agrees as she begins to inspect the condition of Chuck's first car by glancing around and on completing her inspection, it looks as good as new to her. The car was still well maintained with no dust or anything.

"It doesn't hold a candle to my dream car that I purchased for myself back in Virginia though. Nothing beats owning your own car that you purchased yourself," Chuck admits with a grin.

Sarah laughs briefly as she continues her sideways glance at Chuck and she sees his face fill up with happiness on talking about his car. "I'm glad you at least had some normalcy in your life after me," she says sincerely with a warm smile to him.

"What, are you joking?" Chuck asks as he glances sideways at her briefly.

Sarah shakes her head no and Chuck begins to chuckle briefly before averting his eyes back at the road infront of him once more.

"Sarah, without you my life was empty and meaningless," Chuck declares as he glances for a brief moment at Sarah again before concentrating on the road once more.

"That's how I felt without you too, Chuck. When I was in the U.S. I was never outside of D.C. and I was mostly in the Middle East working, working and working," Sarah admits to him with a somber tone of voice.

"Is that why you never purchased your dream car?" Chuck asks her softly.

Sarah smiles briefly on hearing his question. "Do you still remember what it is?" She asks as she finishes with a grin as she glances at him once more.

Chuck's face lights up with a deep grin as he begins to speak to her, "Of course! It was a Porsche or Lotus, as you liked both almost equally."

Sarah was now grinning from ear to ear on hearing his response to her.

"There was no use in me having a Porsche just to take me from CIA headquarters to a gun range, or to my apartment," She admits with a sad smile.

"Nonsense, Sarah. You should have treated yourself to it. You deserve happiness too. I'm really sorry for how grim and how plain your life has been since we broke up," Chuck says sincerely with an affectionate smile to her.

"You don't have anything to be sorry for. You didn't cause it," Sarah says softly.

"All the same, I feel bad and quite sad about how the love of my life has spent her life in the years of me being without her, caused all by my father. He has a lot to answer for, Sarah," Chuck states truthfully to her.

Sarah smiles sadly at him on hearing his revelation because she still doesn't want to tell Chuck's other family members about what his dad did to them both but it was Chuck's family not hers and so it was not her decision to make and she accepts that.

"Can I ask you something Sarah, about your past and about the life you had been living before we got back together?" Chuck asks.

"You can ask me anything, Chuck," she declares warmly.

Chuck smiles warmly on hearing her response. "When I seen you back in Virginia on the assault course, I was so awed," Chuck pauses as he glances at her and grins deeply causing Sarah to smile warmly at him. "Why did you spend so much time at a gun range?" he asks.

"I don't know," Sarah admits with a sudden glum and deflated persona and she pauses briefly as she begins to contemplate Chuck's question to her before she eventually continues to talk again, "It was to release tension and my frustrations I guess. I found it extremely difficult to cope without you, Chuck. My life was plain and it was so empty. I drunk way too much. I didn't want to date anybody else either because I knew that nobody I met would have held a candle to your name so my life was just about work and releasing tension any way I could."

Chuck smiles sadly on hearing Sarah's admissions and he glances sideways away from the road at her for another brief moment to make eye contact with her before fixing his glance back at the road again. "That's exactly what I would have done if I would not have joined the Navy," Chuck admits and pauses briefly so that he could look at Sarah again for a brief moment once more before fixing his eyes back onto the road once more. "I would have came apart completely if I hadn't have joined the Navy and that's why I don't blame anybody for me signing up with the Navy. The Navy made me a better person initially, at least for the first eighteen months of my Naval career, but my first operational deployment and the first time that I'd taken a life, that's when it hit me and that's when I hated what I had done in signing up at that recruiting office and what I had become because of it."

"I can imagine how hard that was for you, Chuck," Sarah says in a depressed tone and smiles sadly at Chuck before continuing again, "Would you have joined the Navy if it wasn't already instilled into you because of your father's career in it?

"Oh hell no," Chuck admits and pauses to chuckle briefly. "The idea of signing up into the military would not have even been in my head if I hadn't have thought about my dad's career in it. But if I hadn't have joined it then I would never have found you again, Sarah."

Sarah smiles sadly at Chuck on hearing his admissions to her.

"Chuck, as boring and as dull and as unfulfilling as my life would have been without you being back in it, it would have been worth it to erase everything that has happened to you in the Navy. Don't get me wrong, I am absolutely ecstatic and I am on cloud nine to have you back in my life, and I will thank god every single day for giving me a second chance with you but not at the expense of all of that hurt that you have suffered in the Navy."

"Sarah, without you in my life and without the Navy, what would my life have honestly been? I would have gotten a job at the Buy More and I would have sat drinking myself into a complete mess while playing video games. My life would have been unfulfilled. You hold that much power over me there would have been absolutely no way that I could get over and move on from you, there never was a normal life for me without you, Sarah. Without you, there is no life," Chuck says zealously with every fibre of his being.

"Me too," Sarah admits in the same tone as she begins to fill up with a deep esteem and affection for Chuck and she moves her hand to affectionately stroke his arm...

* * *

Sarah and Chuck have now completed their journey and they were now parked stationary outside of the home of his parents.

"Sarah, you look a bit more relaxed and more at ease with facing my family than you were when I told you an hour ago," Chuck says as he gazes at Sarah with a warm loving smile to her.

"That's because I still kind of have something of yours inside of me." Sarah states with a wicked smirk and begins to giggle mischievously when Chuck immediately began to choke and entered into a coughing fit on hearing her chosen words to him.

On recovering himself so that he was in a position to talk once more, Chuck scolded Sarah's sexual openness to him "Yuck!" Chuck exclaims as he shakes his head disapprovingly at Sarah. "Sarah, can you please refrain from enlightening me with your inner thoughts any further?"

Sarah snorts on hearing his response before responding, "Just being honest," she says with a wicked smile.

"What you've just said to me is now going to be on my mind the entire time we are with my family," Chuck says as he makes awkward facial expressions.

Sarah giggles mischievously on hearing his admission.

Chuck shook his head disbelievingly on seeing Sarah giggle. "That's why you said it, wasn't it?" he asks her.

"No," Sarah replies unconvincingly as she avoids eye contact with him so that he can't see the guilt on her face.

"Sarah, I know you, it's some payback for making you do this, isn't it?" Chuck asks as he puts his finger under Sarah's chin and makes her make eye contact with him again and he instantly sees the mischief and the guilt in her eyes.

"My lips are sealed," she retorts mischievously with her continued smirk.

"Well then let me help you unseal them," Chuck says as he cups Sarah's face in his hands and moves to kiss her lips.

On separating from the kiss, Sarah continues her wicked grin and begins to giggle rebelliously. "I won't talk," she says confidently.

"Everyone talks, Sarah," Chuck says confidently with a deep grin of his own.

"Not me," Sarah replies rebelliously with her continued wide grin.

"We'll see about that tonight," Chuck says as he pokes his finger onto Sarah's nose.

Sarah immediately began to pout and sulk on hearing Chuck's declaration to her.

"Baby, that's not fair. You promised to thank me for doing this," Sarah says as she frowns deep and sulkingly.

"Then speak up and confess about your sinister intentions with your lewd comments to me," Chuck says as he continues to grin at her.

"Fine, I admit it, but only if you don't tease me until I explode," Sarah says as she continues to pout and sulk cutely at him.

"I'll think about it," Chuck says as he continues to grin at Sarah.

"Chuck, I can always make another comment right now if you want me to?" Sarah threatens with a mischievous smirk.

"Fine, Sarah, you win," Chuck says to her in defeat.

"Baby, I always do," Sarah boasts cheerfully with a deep affectionate grin.

Chuck pulls a funny sad looking face at her.

"So are you ready to face them again?" Chuck then asks.

"No, I'd sooner be in Afghanistan and under mortar fire right now," Sarah admits truthfully with a nervous smile.

Chuck grins and shakes his head for a moment on hearing Sarah's response. "Sarah, it won't be that bad," Chuck says comfortingly.

"It will be, and it's deserved," Sarah says in disagreement with him. "But you won't let them physically hurt me, will you?" Sarah asks anxiously as she stares nervously into Chuck's eyes.

Chuck smiles warmly as he shakes his head sideways before responding, "Sarah, nobody on this earth will ever touch a hair on your head whilst I'm breathing and if they do then they will answer to me regardless of who it is," he says powerfully as his warm loving smile at her continues.

Sarah smiles on hearing his response and declaration to her.

"Was that clear enough?" Chuck then asks her.

Sarah nods her head and Chuck grins deeply at her before they move to briefly embrace together inside the car.

"Let's get Armageddon and Judgement Day rolled into one over with then," Sarah says eventually as they part from the embrace and Chuck smiles sadly at Sarah before they exit Chuck's car together as Chuck begins to gather some Christmas presents from the trunk before they begin to walk towards the front door of his parents home hand in hand.

Arriving outside the door a few moments later, they take a moment outside the door and Chuck waits before ringing the doorbell to give Sarah time to prepare herself and she breathes out a few deep sighs before looking and finally nodding at Chuck.

Chuck smiles deeply at her and tightly squeezes her hand comfortingly before proceeding to ring the doorbell of his parents home.

The door to his parents home opened a few moments later and Mary appeared from behind the door and smiles brightly at Chuck who still has hold of Sarah's hand tightly and Sarah looks on anxiously and nervously as if coming into one on one contact with a playground bully ten times the size of her.

"Hi, Mom. Happy Christmas," Chuck says warmly to his mother with a deep smile.

"Happy Christmas, Chuck," Mary says adoringly to her son before shifting her glance to Sarah.

Sarah smiles shamefully at Mary on the two women making contact with each other for the first time in almost seven years.

"Hi, Mary," Sarah says nervously to Chuck's mother and Chuck squeezes tighter hold of Sarah's hand as encouragement.

Mary continues her cold and distant stare at Sarah. "Sarah," she says distantly.

Sarah shifts her glance down at the floor feeling dispirited but Chuck's mother's reaction was entirely anticipated. Sarah would have to be missing a million brain cells to expect anything other than a cold and distant reception on Chuck's mother coming into contact with the woman who broke her son's heart and also her own when she left their lives almost seven years ago.

Ellie and Devon soon joined the two present Bartowski's and the future Sarah Bartowski standing at the doorway to the Bartowski family home and Ellie's reception was not as restricted as Mary's however, as she began to glare strong daggers at Sarah on making eye contact with each other causing Sarah to gulp nervously at the older Bartowski sibling.

"Hi, bro. Happy Christmas," Devon says warmly with a loving smile to Chuck.

Chuck smiles warmly in response to his brother-in-law. "Hey Devon. Happy Christmas to you too," he then says in response.

The two Bartowski siblings still hadn't greeted each other because Ellie was focusing intensely at Sarah instead. And they weren't really on talking terms right now anyway because of how they left things with each other just one week ago when Chuck first visited them both.

"Hey, Sarah," Devon greets Sarah warmly with his customary warm manners.

Ellie momentarily shifts her menacing glare to her husband instead of Sarah over his betrayal in talking to the woman that had betrayed them all.

"Hi, Devon," Sarah replies as she smiles warmly at him before glancing back at Ellie who was the only one yet to speak.

"This is awkward," Chuck says aloud after a long moment of extreme tension between Sarah and Ellie right now and Mary and Devon shake their heads in agreement with Chuck while Sarah continues to make nervous facial expressions as she feels inches tall and Ellie continues her hostile and belittling stares right at Sarah.

"Hi, Ellie," Sarah then says anxious and nervously as she finds it extremely hard to make eye contact with Chuck's older sister.

Ellie doesn't respond to her greeting as she continues to stand and glare which causes the tension to rise further as the five adults stand stationary at the door to the Bartowski family home.

"So, Sarah, why are you here?" Ellie asks eventually in a confrontational tone but she doesn't give Sarah or Chuck chance to respond to her question as she continues on further in the same tone of voice, "Have you got bored with your life and came back just to hurt him again?" she asks Sarah.

"Ellie, I'm sorry," Sarah says shamefully and remorsefully as her glance lowers down to the floor once more in sadness.

"How much more damage can you cause my brother, Sarah?" Ellie asks but she still doesn't allow her questions to be answered by anybody standing at the doorway as all four people go to speak but Ellie doesn't let any of them and she continues again. "Do you want to see him killed? Is that why you came back? To kill him?" Ellie asks in her same confrontational tone of voice to the woman who had hurt her brother and her family.

"Ellie!" Chuck and Devon both shout disapprovingly whilst Mary shouts "Eleanor!" on the three of them hearing what Ellie has just said as they all begin to gasp in shock as her words catch them all by surprise.

Sarah continues her shameful stare at the floor. "I don't deserve a second chance with him after what I did to him, Ellie, I know that," Sarah agrees shamefully with the older Bartowski sibling.

Ellie strongly shakes her head in agreement with what Sarah just said to her. "No, Sarah, you don't," Ellie replies in a confrontational tone of voice once more.

"Ellie, I would never hurt him again," Sarah then says shamefully once more and she still can't find it in herself to look at any of the four people present despite Chuck trying to comfortingly make eye contact with her and him continuing to squeeze hold of her hand.

Devon and Mary continue to watch on and Chuck wants to speak so badly but he had promised Sarah he would let her talk and explain herself. Though he's feeling very close right now to blowing a gasket at his sister's hostility as he glares distastefully at her and he will do exactly that if her hostility doesn't cool down because he can't take much more before he explodes as he's not going to allow his girlfriend and the woman he wants to marry and have children with to be humiliated and stand alone for much longer even if it's his own sister causing her to feel like that.

Ellie scoffs on hearing what Sarah just said to her. "Yeah right, whatever you say, Sarah. Like you pretended to love him for four years only to crush and ditch him when he was no longer a distraction for you, like you told him he was?"

"Ellie, I didn't pretend to love him! I love him! I've always loved him! And I always will! You can't take that away from me I won't let you!" Sarah fights back and declares powerfully as she will not allow ANYBODY to tell her that she doesn't love Chuck. Sarah will always love Chuck, until her dying breath and nobody was taking that away from her, no matter who it was.

Ellie scoffs once more. "I would have asked you to be my maid of honor at my wedding, Sarah," Ellie says and pauses as she continues to feel strong betrayal inside at the woman who ditched and messed around with her family almost seven years ago.

Sarah lowers her head down at the floor once more on hearing Ellie's words to her while Devon continues to watch his wife and Mary shifts her glance between Chuck, Sarah and Ellie and wants to interject but understands that if Ellie and Sarah are to move forward from this, then this confrontation is needed as Ellie needs to vent and get everything off her chest.

"I'm sorry, Ellie," Sarah says remorsefully to her once more.

"And I would have been honoured to have been yours if you would have asked me," Ellie adds in and pauses again as she continues to shake her head despondently at Sarah. "So I don't think I can ever forgive you for your betrayal and for what you have done to me alone, nevermind what you have done to my brother!"

"Ellie, I accept that," Sarah says and she nods her head in acceptance at the older Bartowski sibling. "Just know, that there has not been a single day that has not gone by even since I got back together with your brother where I did not and have not felt heartbroken and felt and feel deep shame for what I did to your brother and to your whole family. I crushed him and he didn't deserve that." Sarah says shamefully as she glances between Mary, Chuck and Ellie briefly.

"No, he didn't," Ellie replies strongly as Chuck, Devon and Mary continue to stand in stunned silence as they watch Ellie and Sarah intensely clear the air and bad blood with each other. Any one of them saying something right now would add fuel onto the fire and it may make Ellie explode more than she already is after holding it in for so long but Chuck couldn't take much more of this. Chuck was seething and he was fuming inside at his older sister for how much she is intimidating and belittling Sarah right now as anger began building up inside of him at his sister's continued hostility as he glares at her.

"I'm sorry, I deserve this treatment from you," Sarah says remorsefully guilt ridden once more in despondence and in resignation. "I shouldn't be here on Christmas day, it's not fair to spoil and ruin your day," Sarah says shamefully as she then begins to turn away from facing Ellie and she lets go of Chuck's hand despite his best attempts to keep hold of it.

"Sarah..." Chuck says affectionately after her but Sarah then begins to walk away from him and out of his reach as she begins to break up inside as she begins to feel deep sorrow and guilt with herself for what she has done to Chuck and his family.

Mary looks on sadly as she watches Sarah start to walk away from her home and Mary's heartstrings begin to pull because of her daughter's treatment of her future daughter-in-law and Devon watches on sadly at his wife's behavior to Sarah also.

Chuck was about to run right after Sarah but paused because Ellie had begun speaking again.

"Yeah, that's right Sarah! Run and walk away again, you've done that once to this family already!"

"DON'T YOU DARE SAY ONE MORE WORD ELLIE, I'M WARNING YOU!" Chuck snaps aggressively as he points his finger at her and he begins to glare menacingly with a scowl on his face at his sister over her hostility to the most important person in his life. After everything that Sarah has done for Chuck the past few months, she is the last person on this earth to deserve this treatment from his family members or family member, rather, as it was only Ellie that was behaving like this.

Chuck then turned away from his three family members and he hastily began running after Sarah who had ran away from the door to the Bartowski family home.

On Chuck catching up to her, Sarah was fully sobbing and Chuck moves ahead of her and Sarah stops as she continues to sob as her gaze connects and meets with the pavement slabs because she can't face making eye contact with him because of the guilt and shame she feels with herself again once more.

"Sarah, I'm so sorry! Honey, this was a bad idea! I'm so stupid and you were right!"Chuck says apologetically, shamefully and remorsefully over his sister's treatment of her as he moves Sarah into him and she sobs into his chest as he rubs her back and her hair affectionately.

"Maybe she is right, Chuck! I don't deserve you! I'm sorry!" Sarah sobs into his chest as Chuck continues to affectionately comfort and console her.

"Sarah, don't you ever say that, ever! After everything that you have done for me this week and the past few months, you have nothing to be shameful of! Without you, I wouldn't be alive right now. You do deserve me. You deserve me more than everybody else on this planet put together!" Chuck says with conviction as he calms down and consoles Sarah for the next couple of minutes…

* * *

"This was a bad idea. I'm so sorry for making you do this, Sarah," Chuck says shamefully to Sarah once she had calmed down from the state that she was in because of the treatment she had just been given by his older protective sister.

"No Chuck, it wasn't a bad idea. They are your family and I can't ignore them for the rest of our lives but she hates me and I would hate me too," Sarah states remorsefully to him.

"No, you wouldn't. Because you have done nothing wrong. My father has. Now we're going to go back and we're going to finish this. And this time I'm not going to be such a wimp and I'm going to do the talking as it's beyond evident that she scares the living hell out of you and I won't let my sister intimidate the woman I love for a moment longer," Chuck declares with conviction.

"Chuck, I don't want you to speak for me," Sarah says shamefully.

"That's tough, Sarah. Because I'm not going to let my sister bully you for a moment longer. Come on." Chuck says as he takes hold of Sarah's hand once more and he begins to pull her gently with some resistance from Sarah who doesn't want to go back and face that hostility from Ellie a second time. She is so close to breaking apart already right now and another dosage of it would snap her completely.

Arriving back at the door a few moments later with Ellie, Devon and Mary still stood there, Chuck doesn't give anybody a chance to speak as he does the talking this time.

"Ellie, if you ever want to see me ever again for the rest of our lives then you won't say another word and you will sit and listen to what we have to say!" Chuck says deathly serious with a scowl on his face as he glares a hostile gaze at his sister.

"Chuck..." Mary tries to interject over her son's serious declaration.

Chuck strongly shakes his head sideways at his mother. "No, Mom, I'm serious!" Chuck shouts at his mother before shifting his gaze back at Ellie once more.

"You don't get to tell me who I can and can not be with!" Chuck shouts as he continues to glare at Ellie and points a finger at her once more.

"Chuck..." Sarah tries to interject this time as she doesn't want to cause a family to fall out with each other over herself.

Chuck also strongly shakes his head at Sarah's interjection as he then begins to rage. "I HAVE BLOODY HAD JUST ABOUT ENOUGH OF YOUR ATTITUDE AND YOUR HOSTILITY SINCE I GOT BACK HERE IN LA!" Chuck screams to Ellie as the five companions continue to stand in close proximity to one another and the whole group begin to scare and spook because of Chuck's excessive rage levels right now as he explodes a gasket.

"I AM A GROWN MAN! AND I CAN DO WHATEVER THE HELL I WANT TO IN MY LIFE AND I CAN SEE WHO I WANT TO! SARAH MADE A MISTAKE IN LEAVING BUT WE ALL MAKE MISTAKES AND YOU KNOW WHAT? IF YOU'RE GOING TO STAND HERE AND TAKE THE MORAL HIGH GROUND AND GO AROUND BLAMING PEOPLE, ELLIE, THEN BLAME DAD!" Chuck shouts and fumes and scolds his sister in anger causing Ellie, Mary and Devon to do an instant double-take at his final words when Chuck mentioned the Admiral.

"Chuck..." Sarah says anxiously to him over the impending storm that his choice of words is about to cause.

Chuck shakes his head at Sarah once more in frustration over his sister bullying Sarah and himself ever since he touched down in LA. Right now, Chuck regrets ever coming back here. "Sarah, I'm sorry, but they deserve to know who is really to blame for you leaving and I can't stomach her blaming you for a moment longer before I explode when it was my rotten, stinking father who caused us to separate, not you!"

"Explain yourself right this instant, Chuck!" Mary demands as she begins to rage on hearing what her son has just said to her. It was so disgustingly offensive and consequential, if what Chuck has just said to her is true then the consequences are going to be extremely dire.

"Oh I will, Mom, I can assure you of that. But first of all, I am speaking out my demands to my aggressive and hostile sister. I WILL NOT allow the woman who is going to be my wife and the mother of my children to be bullied and cowered by my sister who I don't like very much right now!" Chuck says and he pauses as he continues to burn a very powerful and hostile glare at Ellie before he continues again. "Now we're all going to go inside and we're going to sit down like five grown adults and we are not going to behave like spoiled little babies throwing our toys out of our prams for a second longer! Because the alternative is that I walk away with Sarah and I never see any of you ever again for the rest of my life," Chuck says deadly serious as he begins leading all three women inside with Devon following him in behind and closing the door after them…

* * *

"Chuck, I will ask you again. What did you mean when you said that your dad was to blame for what happened with you and Sarah?" Mary demands her son to answer as she wants immediate answers over Chuck's revelation as the five companions all begin to stand idly inside the Bartowski family home.

Chuck glances at Sarah for help and Sarah nods her head at him. The can of worms has already been opened and it was too late now. It was now about damage limitation and hopefully it would not cause a deep family rift for Chuck's family because if it does then Sarah won't be able to live with herself knowing that she would have played a big part in the cause of it.

"Mom, myself and Sarah only found out about it recently too. You already know that Sarah is CIA because I told you when I was here last week but there is something that I didn't tell you because last week was about me just wanting to see you both and I wanted Sarah to be with me when we told you about this news, and it's going to be big," Chuck says and he pauses briefly to allow the information to register with Mary, Ellie and Devon all listening to him intensely. "When I was still comatose in hospital, dad came to visit me. Sarah was in the room when he visited and he broke down and he told her that he had Langston Graham order Sarah to break up with me all those years ago just before she did," Chuck reveals truthfully to his mother and sister.

"WHAT?!" Mary fumes aggressively in anger and rage on hearing her son tell her that it was her husband, and not Sarah, who caused the breakup of her son's relationship with Sarah, and his subsequent signing up to join the Navy which the two Bartowski women exclusively blamed on Sarah for so many years.

Ellie meanwhile on hearing the revelations began to gasp, and Devon winced at the deep can of worms that has just opened inside of the Bartowski family home as worms began squirming out everywhere as Mary and Ellie entered into severe states of shock.

"I'm sorry, Mom. I had my suspicions of it ever since I pulled him over something back in August. He admitted to me back in August that he had always known that Sarah was CIA and things were just not adding up ever since that day," Chuck reveals to his family members and he smiles weakly at all of them while Sarah and Chuck begin to play around with each others hand that they were holding onto as the five adults continue to stand inside the Bartowski home.

Mary's face looked like it was about to burst several blood vessels right now as she filled up with deep, immense anger on hearing that her husband has kept something as big as this a secret from her for all those years in addition to hearing that her husband ordered her son's girlfriend to break up with him just before he was about to propose to her. Stephen Bartowski has a lot to answer for, and Mary is about to make him answer for that right here and now as she contemplates her next move which will almost certainly involve getting strong and immediate answers via phone communication from her deceiving husband who has caused a deep and extremely serious family rift.

"So my father ordered it, and he will answer for what he has done to us all," Ellie says and pauses briefly as she also fills up with anger for being lied to just like her mother and brother before continuing to talk to Sarah. "But why did you do it, Sarah? Why did you break up with Chuck? You knew how much he idolized you. You had a choice. You didn't have to follow through on the order."

Ellie, Mary and Devon all began to listen intensely to Sarah's response as they were finally about to hear the real reason for why Sarah left Chuck and this was absolutely MASSIVE and too important and crucial to miss and Mary paused and halted her warpath against her husband momentarily until after this present conversation was over.

"Ellie, I was so petrified that I would have lost him regardless of whether I had done it or not. I was recruited into the CIA in July 1999 and I was told under oath to keep it a secret from every single person in my life. I spent the following months spying on somebody on my campus and building up intelligence on the target. He was planning out a terrorist attack on Stanford Campus and I was inside his dorm gathering intelligence in January 2000 when he came back to it. I got into a confrontation with him and I killed him in self defence. I then used the order that your father had given to Graham as an excuse to break up with Chuck because I couldn't lie to Chuck for a moment longer over what I had been doing since July and I couldn't bear the thought of Chuck breaking up with me if I would have came clean and told him all about the CIA and that I had killed somebody for them," Sarah finishes as she begins to break up and cry in the middle of the Bartowski home as the topic and the thought of it is just too emotional for her and it always would be no matter how many times she tells the story of why she actually left Chuck because of a deep fear of him rejecting her if he'd have known that she was a killer.

Ellie began to shake her head disapprovingly at what she has just heard from Sarah. Ellie was stood gob smacked that Sarah could truly believe that Chuck would have left her if she had came clean to him. Ellie knew her brother better than anybody and he would have done the exact opposite. He would have comforted her through her ordeal.

On seeing her future daughter-in-law break down emotionally and burst into tears, Mary immediately moves over to where Sarah was standing and she moves to hug her comfortingly because of what her husband has done to Sarah and to her son. Mary now feels deep shame with herself because of what Stephen has done to her family.

"Sweetheart, I'm so sorry. You faced an impossible dilemma and I promise you that my husband will answer for his actions," Mary says comfortingly as Sarah sobs into the much older woman's arms.

"Oh Sarah, you really didn't know my brother then, did you? Four years of being with him and you think that he would have broken up with you?" Ellie asks in disbelief as she sighs deeply and still can't accept Sarah's reasoning for leaving the family, even if she now knows that her father was to blame for at least half of it.

"That's enough for one day, Eleanor!" Mary commands her daughter as she glances to the side of her and Sarah continues to cry into Chuck's mother's arms because of how overwhelming this experience has been. It has been the most intense moment of Sarah's life. Sarah spent four happy years with Mary and Ellie and she loved them as her own family. Leaving them both on that day that she did hurt Sarah just as much as it did leaving Chuck, even Devon to a big extent too as she had a warm relationship with him also.

Mary then continues to embrace and comfort her future daughter-in-law for a couple minutes more as the five companions stood together in a sombre mood inside of the Bartowski family home...

 **AN** Thank you for reading today. And please review on your way out :)

Next Chapter: Christmas at the Bartowski's: Finale.

It will DEFINITELY be the finale of the segment!

It will contain further Sarah and Ellie dialogue.

It will also contain a Mary and Stephen conversation.

And it will also contain Mary and Sarah conversation.

And then the chapter will finish with a few cute Charah moments :)


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